Outcast and Legacy
by darthfielder
Summary: Takes place around 2000 years before the movies and with original characters. A Padawan with only the name, Laan, sees a vision about the Sith which leads to a great battle and begins a war within the Republic, the Sith, and the Jedi Order.
1. Chapter 1 and 2

(note: I have links attached to this document to help the story but they don't quite work here. So you may come across autor notes, like this one, that may say some thing like, "here is what a so-and-so looks like" with a broken link fallowing. Those links where supposed to show what some aliens looked like to those who don't know what they look like. Anyways, like I'll mention at the bottom of the page you can visit my site which you can find under home page on my profile. The formating and quality is much better there.)

--

A long time ago,

In a galaxy far, far way...

Millenniums have past since the start of the Sith war.

The Republic remains the strong law in the galaxy but the Sith

wish to take such power. In an attempt to stop the war and

bring peace back to the galaxy the brave and powerful Jedi

decide to join in the Republic's attempt to stop the Sith once

and for all.

However after thousands of years the war never seems to stop.

If a Sith Lord is slain another takes its place like a constant

vermin. It starts becoming apparent to many younger Jedi

that the war may never end and due to the Jedi's strict

codes many of those Jedi leave the Jedi Order. Some leave the

force behind altogether while others are tempted into the ranks

of the Sith.

Years upon years pass while the current Dark Lord of the Sith,

Darth Vultous remains a constant threat to the Republic.

That is until one day a young Jedi Padawan has a force guided

vision of a future Sith attack. The Padawan tells the Jedi council

of his vision but is dismissed as a dream, to the dismay of many

Jedi Knights. Years of war had left the Jedi Council's ranks week

and many Jedi Knights questioned their judgment.

Eventually the Padawan had convinced a group of Jedi that his

vision was true. Together these Jedi went to the moon of Tisstan,

the place the Padawan envisioned, and found the Sith in hiding.

It was just as the Padawan saw it. Though outnumber, the Jedi

fought the Sith. In the end Darth Vultous was slain at the hands

of the Padawan. However, he was the lone survivor of the Jedi

that sacrificed their lives on the moon of Tisstan...

Chapter 1: Outcast

I remember that day, that moment, so well even years later. I remember the center of a round room standing before the Jedi council, receiving my, "judgment". Twelve of the Jedi Masters made up the Jedi council. They were both wise and powerful in the ways of the, "Force". The very power that flows through all things. With the seating arrangement in the council room I felt rather intimidated. Each Master sat in a throne-like-chair placed in a circle around the room. I stood in the center of these chairs with the Jedi Masters surrounding me.

Each Jedi Master was taught to control their emotions and show no signs of such feelings as lust, superiority, anger, greed and most of all hatred. That's the case in theory. However, even if their faces were emotionless, I could feel their frustration and with some of the masters, even hatred for me. I'd be lying if I didn't share a few of the same thoughts for them.

I don't remember how long I stood there in silence as they stared at me. Perhaps they were wondering what to do with me. Perhaps they were trying to hold back their anger as much as possible before it burst from their mouths and said something they'd later regret. I stood their in my heavy, gray and crimson Jedi robes, my long black hair tied back into a ponytail, and my gray eyes that kept darting from Jedi master to Jedi master. I was wondering which Jedi would loose their cool first.

Finally Jedi Master Klypso was the first to speak. Adian Klypso was and still is the head of the Jedi Council. A female and one of the few human Jedi to ever be named head of the Jedi Council. The elderly Jedi Master sat in her chair directly in front of me, her hands folded beneath her pale wrinkly chin, "Jedi Knight Laan, I assume you know why you are here. Am I correct in assuming so?"

Humph. I waited this long for this stupid question. I didn't say that out loud though. Instead I just gave a slight nod of the head before I responded. My voice is naturally on the lower side and somewhat dark sounding but I made sure at the moment to sound as intimidating and sure of myself as I could, "Jedi Masters, I believe the reason I am here is because _you _believethat I've committed a despicable act and broke direct orders from my _superiors_."

From the looks on a few of their faces I could tell the tone in my voice agitated some of them. Jedi Master Kol'Tyuk shook his head and said something in his native tongue. Master Kol'Tyuk is a Weequay. Weequay are a humanoid species with coarse, leathery skin and bald heads. By tradition, they often wear a braided topknot on one side of his or her head. He however did not. Master Kol'Tyuk was considered second after Master Klypso, although technically the Jedi aren't much for ranks. Once Master Kol'Tyuk finished what he was saying in his native tongue, Master Klypso translated, "Master Kol'Tyuk would like me to remind you of your accused crimes."

(Note: Here is a pick of a Weequay /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/weequay/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined )

"You call them crimes. I call them a successful attempt at dealing a vital blow to the Sith and this war." I countered with a mater-of-fact tone.

Master Klypso ignored my statement and continued with what she was saying, "You convinced dozens of Jedi and Apprentices to throw their lives away all for a false dream-."

I clenched my fists and grit me teeth as I interrupted her, "False dream?! This wasn't false and it wasn't a dream. I had a clear vision of the Sith's activates. They were planning on conquering the planet of Tisstan. I told you of my vision and labeled its simply as a nightmare. Apparently many Jedi didn't have much faith in your counseling because they believed in my vision."

Master Klypso lowered her eyebrows in a petty attempt to intimidate me. It failed, "You are still just an apprentice yourself. A boy, only sixteen standard years of age, and you have not received training in the ways of a Jedi Seer. What you saw was a dream nothing more."

"Nothing more?" I repeated in confusion, "If it was only a dream then why were the Sith in the location I saw, Tisstan's moon? Why was the Dark lord of the Sith there on the small moon, if not to mount an attack on Tisstan?-"

Master Klypso interrupted me with a harsh tone of voice, "-And why are you the only survivor?"

I was taken back. Her words hurt me more than any weapon could. It was true what she said. I had seen a vision. I convinced many Jedi that my vision was true. The group of believers fallowed me, a mere Padawan, to Tisstan with faith in me and my vision. There we found the Sith hiding on Tisstan's lone moon. They were readying their forces for an assault on Tisstan. We engaged them in an epic battle. We were outnumbered and outmatched. My Jedi Master, Master Rexsis Tal led us into battle despite the our odds of winning. Together as a group we fought our way to the Sith's flagship where Master Tal, three other surviving Jedi, and myself met the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vultous. The five surviving Jedi fought Darth Vultuos for what seemed like days. I had fought my way to the Dark Lord after watching my comrades and friends, even thought Jedi aren't supposed to label others as friends or family, die. Now I stood only a few feat from her, Darth Vultous.

She was clad in all black with a hood covering most of her head. All but the lower half of her face. Her skin was so pale and transparent I could see blood and muscles through her flesh even at a distance. She smirked at us as she withdrew her crimson bladed lightsaber and charged us. My Master was the first to be struck down by her. I watched in terror as her crimson blade cut through my Master's torso. He had purposely taken the blow to guard me from her. He gave his life to save mine. For a few seconds I was lost when he died. I was in a trance. My Master was gone. The next thing I remembered was seeing two other Jedi fall at her sheer dark power. Only two of us remained. Not for long as Darth Vultous cut my only remaining ally in half at the torso.

However, he didn't die in vein. As she cut him in half he managed to use his own lightsaber to slice Vultous's dueling arm off at the shoulder. She howled as her arm fell to the ground, still clutching on to her lightsaber. I quickly seized the opportunity and using the power of the force, I quickly levitated her saber from her dead appendage, into my hands. Before she could gather herself I tossed her own saber at her like a javelin where the blade met its mark in her chest. She stumbled back as I fallowed up by running up to her and with a quick arc of my blue bladed lightsbaer, I decapitated her. Just like that I had slain the Dark Lord of the Sith. The Sith were dealt the most crippling of blows, the loss of their leader. Its was the accomplishment all of the Jedi that came to Tisstan wanted but I felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest. Dozens of Jedi were dead, my master, a man like a father to me died so I could live. All of this happened because of my vision. My vision that would become my ever lasting curse.

When Master Klypso said those words, when she reminded me that I was responsible for their deaths, all I could was just stand in the center of the council room with my head hanging low. I felt helpless and affraid. I could barley squeak out, "You don't have to remind me. Because of me, Jedi died..." I then raised my chin in the air as I thought about the same Jedi that believed in me and what we did that day, even at the cost of their own lives. The thought made me strong, "But we destroyed Darth Vultous and even if its for only a for a little while, the galaxy shall see peace. Don't you dare belittle what the Jedi that fell, did that day!"

Master Klypso was taken back at my words, for only a moment. She then continued her attempt at intimidating me, "Laan, we are more curious as to why you are the lone survior. A mere padawan."

I curled my lips and snarled like an enraged dog at them, "What am I being accused of?!"

Jedi Master Cled Amousous, a heavily muscled, human, Jedi Master leaned over in his chair. He was sitting far to my right and I had to pivot a full ninety degrees to my right just to look at him. He was a menacing looking Jedi. He always wore the hood of his robe up, casting a shadow over his entire face. His face was covered in scars and long, red facial hair that was nearly a foot in length. His gaze was a steady, judgmental glare that made me feel as though he was staring lasers through my body. He started cracking his knuckles as he began speaking in his robotic tone, "Padawan Laan, you are not officially being accused of a thing. However, in passing a few of the Masters have pointed out that its rather convenient that the same student that allegedly had a vision and convinced many to sacrifice their lives all for a chance to stop a Sith attack, would be the only survivor of such a massive attack."

They weren't saying it directly but they were dancing around the accusation that I plotted with the Sith from the begging and led the Jedi to their deaths. I believed that they wanted me to be the first one to bring up the possibility that I was working with the Sith so they could make it seem as though I was acting overly defensive. I wouldn't fall into their cerebral assault instead I tried to make them admit they were accusing me of such a betrayal. I stood straight up with my chin high and locked my gaze upon that red haired, monster of a Jedi, "I'd assume you also see it convenient that I was the one that dealt the killing blow to Darth Vultous?"

A large somewhat cocky grin stretched across his face, "So you say. No one is left alive who could confirm the kill was yours. Why is that again? Oh yes, because you led anyone that could witness the act to their deaths."

I heard a loud pounding sound from behind me. I looked back over my shoulder to see a welcome sight. Master Sarval-Styr had pounded his fist on his chair to stop Cled's accusations. Master Sarval-Styr was Klatooinian, a tall humanoid species. He had coarse, light brown skin and a flat canine like snout. Like all Klatooinians he had thick, heavy brows that always made them look as if they were allways angry. However Sarval-Styr was anything but. He was a true Jedi. He was kind, caring, and wasn't nearly as judgmental as the other Masters on the council. He had the same worthy reputation that the Jedi had built up over the past few thousand years. Sarval-Styr looked at me with those caring eyes and gave me the warmest of smiles a Klatooinian could before he looked past me and directly at Master Amousous, "Master Amousous, these words of yours are going too far. As a council member you should always remember to keep an open and calm mind. Laan has yet to fully express his side of the story."

(Note: Here is a pic of a Klattoinian /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/klatooinian/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined)

Master Amousous was about to counter Sarval-Styr's comment when Master Klypso chimed in, "It matters not. Laan received an order from the council. He was ordered to forget about the dream he had and instead he massed a coalition of willing Jedi and took them into battle with the Sith. Laan, is this true or is it not?"

I quickly turned back to face her. I was making lots of quick turns today. I felt like a lone rat surrounded by starving, feral cats. I looked at her is dismay, as did a few other Jedi on the council including Master Sarval-Styr. I pathetically gestured with my hands in an attempt to amplified my argument, "Master, that's a loaded question! How can you ask me such a thing?"

I wasn't getting through to Master Klypso but I was getting through to a small portion of the council, or rather Master Klypso was burying herself with her unruly lackeys and loaded questions. I suddenly got the feeling that even before I came around the council was starting to grow frustrated with each other. I didn't know it at the time but this argument would later turn into a line in the sand that would bring the Jedi Order to war within itself.

Master Klypso's cool and calm exterior was slowly being chipped at and her foundation was weakening as I brought the pressure, "Laan you are a powerful and charismatic youth. It is no wonder that the fallen Jedi fallowed you. But we ordered you not to act yet you did. Am I correct?"

I clenched my jaw and tried to hold back my frustrations, "Correct."

"It no longer matters if your dream was a vision or not." She said, "What matters is that you disobeyed our order and in doing so cost many Jedi their lives, including the life of your master."

"You don't have to remind me." I said under my breath, "Master Tal was like a father to me."

Master Kol'Tyuk spoke in his native tongue again and Master Klypso translated again, "Do you have any regrets about your actions?"

All twelve council members looked at me as they waited for my response. I didn't have to think about my answer. I stood up straight and kept my chin high as I told them, "No. The Sith and the Republic have been at war for thousands of years and the Jedi sided with the Republic. Since then it somehow became our war. We are now the Republic's main fighting force, we're no longer Jedi Knights, we're merely advanced soldiers. When I had my vision I knew that if we even managed to slay Darth Vultous the war wouldn't end. Like the Jedi Knihgts before me all I could hope for was to cause the Sith to withdraw as they searched for a new Sith Lord. In doing so the galaxy would be peaceful, if only for a little while. That's what this war has come down to. We may never be able to end this war, only delay the suffering. If this war somehow did end, it would only come after a massive tragedy. We need to change our tactics, they aren't working!"

I was and still am a little proud of my speech. I was only sixteen then and wasn't even a Jedi Knight but I knew I had reached a few of the Jedi Masters in that room. One of them being Master Sarval-Styr. However it didn't touch enough of the council members. Including Master Klypso who shook her head in disappointment, "All we needed from you was a sigh of regret for your actions. Instead you try and manipulate the situation to side with your own personal propaganda."

My jaw dropped and winced as though I was sucker punched, "Manipulate? Propaganda? Master I'm just trying to point out that maybe the way we're doing things isn't the right way. Never-ending violence and tragedy has become a common topic through the Jedi temple! We are losing allies and friends in meaningless battle!"

"You are one to talk about meaningless battles!" Master Amousous blurted out.

I ignored him and continued going of the offensive, "And whatever Jedi we aren't losing in battle we are losing due to our strict traditions."

"Now you question the traditions of the Jedi?" Master Amousous grumbled, "This boy is nothing but a crafty Sith."

Again... I ignored him, "Can't you see there is a problem when Jedi are leaving the order in favor of the Sith just because we aren't allowed to love and call another person family?"

"The Sith," Master Klypso sighed, "preach that they allow such things as love but such claims are only false promises to lure others to the Sith-"

"That's because its an obvious weakness!" I shouted, "Since I was a youngling training to be a Jedi I've been taught that Jedi are supposed to be compassionate to others but at the same time to not get too close to anyone because friendship and love are both things that can lead to the dark side. That's an insane contridiction!"

That was what shattered Klypso's foundation. She stood up from her chair and tried staring me down, "Silence! You've been given the chance to repent but you only stand in ignorant defiance. The council has no other option than to ban you from the Jedi order. You are no longer a student, you are not a Knight, and you will never have the Jedi's approval in your actions with the force."

My eyes grew wide as a deep, empty feeling grew in the pit of my stomach, "Banned? I've spent my enitre known life training to be a Jedi... I have no other identity."

"This is something that you've brought upon yourself." Amousous said with a wide grin on his smug face.

I stood there looking down at my feet for what seemed like hours. The Jedi Order was all I knew. I was found abandoned as an infant by Master Tal and ever since then I was part of the Jedi Order. I had no birth name, no identity of my own. Maser Tal named my Laan and I put my entire being into being a Jedi Knight. I was taught to stand up for those who couldn't defend themselves. I was taught to work with the force, to trust my feelings. Now that I had, I've become an outcast!

The more I thought about how betrayed I felt the angrier I got. I knew anger was one of those feelings that we were taught led to the dark side but at that moment I didn't care. I clenched my fists so hard that my fingers nails were cutting into my skin. My body started trembling with rage and fear. Master Saraval-Styr got up from his chair, walked over to me, and placed his hand on my shoulder. He then tried a Jedi calming trick where a Jedi would place his hand on another's body then sent calming sensations through their body. I wouldn't have any of it. At the time I didn't want anything done to me associated with the Jedi. I shrugged his hand off my shoulder and gave him a slight shove to the chest, "Get away from me!"

Sarval-Styr took a step back and lowered his head, "Laan, please. I don't want you to turn away from the light. I don't want to someday see you in the battle lines of the Sith."

I didn't respond. I didn't know how to respond. The only thing I could do was reach for my belt where I clipped my unignited lightsaber handle. I removed the Jedi weapon from my belt and gripped it in my hand for one last time before tossing it to the ground before Klypso's feet. Before any of them could react I quickly spun around, my robes whipping around, and walked out of the council room and then from the Jedi temple. My attitude at the time was, that if they didn't want me, I didn't need them. Looking back my attitude really was sour but I still stand by my actions... even if things never got any better for me...

Chapter 2: Legacy

Six years later and I still stand by every one of my actions... except for maybe throwing my lightsaber away. It took three months and over 20,000 republic credits to build that work of art. The handle was masterfully crafted with precious silver and black metals. I wanted to make it out of a special electrum shell, which was a beautiful, hardened, rather shiny metal. However Master Tal told me that electrum was usually used by Jedi Masters as it was a special honor to have an electrum saber... and I was only a Padawan. Still I made my saber look better than most Jedi Masters.

The heart of any lightsaber is a jewel, diamond, ruby, basically any precious and transparent stone. The jewel doesn't only define the blade but it gave the blade its color. As a youngling I wanted a pitch black blade... but I didn't understand how light worked and didn't understand a pitch black light was iimpossible. So when it came time, much later in life, I settled for a unique sapphire found only in the mines of, ironically, Tisstan. The same planet I saved when we attacked Darth Vultous. The sapphire gave my blade a light blue tint.

I loved that saber. A Jedi knight has to rely on their saber in battle both as a sword and a shield. I fought many battles with that saber and I had it with me almost all the time. A Jedi's lightsaber is more than a weapon. It's also a symbol of both the individual Jedi and the Jedi as a group. As a group Jedi we're recognized instantly by the saber. As an individual, if a Jedi put allot of work into their saber it said that Jedi wasn't lazy and cares about the work he dose. If they just threw it together, it say he or she...or anything in between, was lazy. It also might not be the best thing to go into battle with.

Ah, the days of the Jedi. When I was respected by others only because of the reputation that the Jedi of old had created. Now though I was far from respected. I went from nice Jedi robes, in the nice Jedi temple, on the capitol planet Coruscant to sweaty, dirty, tank tops and shorts on the desert planet, Lanoul. The only thing that improved for me was the fact that because I no longer lived in the temple I had to rough it out and because of it I had gotten much stronger and agile from the old days when I was a scrawny teenager. And believe me, I wasn't living in any nice temple.

Instead I was living in an old, rusted, former star ship. The thing is so rusted and full of holes I wouldn't trust it to go above sea level let alone space. I didn't even bother naming it. The interior of the ship wasn't any better than the exterior. The ship was on the small side and had only two chairs, both in the barley functioning cockpit. Each chair had rips and springs sticking out of them. The only remotely comfortable place in the ship was in the tiny cargo hold and that is only because I put a small cot in there.

The rest of the cargo hold had piles of various pieces and parts spread around the room. It was how I made my measly earnings. During the day I'd open the back door of the cargo hol and open a repair shop. Back in the Jedi temple there was a man named Herrvis Jenyerd. Herrvis was the mechanic at the temple. He'd work on the Jedi Starfighters and other forms of maintenance. He knew much more than just mechanics though. He knew allot about computers as well. I wonder if he was at one point a hacker because he knew way too much about things no one should know. Like computer viruses. I'd spend most of my free time in the garage where good ol' Herrvis would teach me what he knew. So I knew more than enough to start my own business.

I parked my ship, after I was barley able to fly it, in a heavily populated bazaar like area in the city of Soundy-Dail. Soundy-Dail was a large, wide open city set in the middle of a small mountain setting. Beyond the mountains was nothing but allot of sand. As for the bazaar, there were rows after rows of small shops selling a little bit of everything. Each row of the bazaar was filled with colorful and exotic wares and interesting and colorful people browsing through them. Not too far from the bazaar was a giant space port where ships from space would dock, do their business, and head back out into space. Despite being in a desert, Soundy-Dail was a hot tourist spot. The port was almost as large as the city of Soundy-Dail. It was dome shaped and painted silver. When the sun hit it the silver dome looked like it was made of glass. It was very beautiful.

From the colorful bazaar and the amazing port, Soundy-Dail was absolutely gorgeous. Except for the ugly, old ship that was placed between the bazaar and the port. An ugly ship only about 8 meters long and less than 3 meters tall. The ship's shape was blocky and it's hull was an ugly gunmetal color, with rusted edges. The back of the ship had an open door with a plain sign that read, "Repairs" hanging from the top of the open door. An iron desk stood at the entrance. Behind the desk a man sat on a bucket waiting for business.

When he stood up he reached about 1.63 meters. He had light toned skin, long, nearly black hair, gray eyes, athletically muscular, and if I do say so myself, rather handsome. He wore tan colored shorts and a tank top. Due to the weather and the heat box that was this ship nothing but light clothing was worn. Behinds him, inside the ship's cargo hold were piles of random parts... and a cot. In case nobody figured it out yet, that man was me. A Jedi outcast turned repairmen. A man with only the name, Laan. A man who got the for mentioned name from his late Master who didn't know what his actual name was because he was abandoned as an infant. I was a man who was hot and sweating buckets, ironically I was sitting on the only bucket I had beacuse it was the closest thing to a functioning chair I had.

I could have sat outside if it wasn't for the heavy foot traffic outside my ship. My hunk of junk was already an eye sore to the people of Soundy-Dail the last thing I needed was to get in peoples way. However, heavy foot traffic meant good business... in theory. Though not many people wanted to stop at my repair shop because, as I've mentioned before, my ship is hideous and I lose some credibility when I base my business out of it. But when someone has tried all other options and needed something repaired, they are stuck with the scary looking, sweaty guy.

Thankfully, after six standard months of living here I've begun getting regular customers and I'm getting a reputation for being the best repair men in town. Oh yeah! Not where I saw myself seven years ago but considering what I've been through since then, its a fair compromise.

I sat at my desk watching people of all races and types walk by. Most carrying things they'd bought from the bazaar. I hope someday to make enough money to actually be able to enjoy the bazaar itself and not just leach off its location. I also hope someday to buy a ship that can actually leave the planet but I was realistic and that dream was meant for another day.

I think what I like most is all the attention I get from others around my age. Around here, most people my age work either as simple harvesters for rare, Lanoul, desert veggies or else they probably are working at the bazaar or port. They find the repair work I do cool and with my charm and good looks the women are naturally drawn to me... yeah right. I may be somewhat handsome when I'm dressed nice but now I look like an ex-prisoner. Its a good cover though. No one person would think of me as an ex-Jedi which in Lanoul is a good thing. Lanoul is technically a neutral planet but its often visited by the Sith because its near some Sith hotspots. Though the Sith are crafty. It's hard to track their exact locations.

I was sitting at my desk when one of my regular visitors, not customer, stopped by. A human female named, Gully. I called her, "Wire" because she was incredibly scrawny and rather short. She wore a tan tunic and dark green pants which were probably made for children but she was small enough to fit into them. Her dirty blonde hair was tied back into three tails. I noticed something new about her. An accessory that I'd never seen her with before, a young boy.

The young boy was about the same height as Wire but appeared to be ten years younger. He wore a light blue top, dark blue shorts, and a white, wide brimmed hat over his head. He seemed to be rather distant and was staring at his feat as he and Wire walked up to my lil' ol' shop. When Wire got to my desk she put her left hand on my desk and began tapping her finger nails on the desktop, "Yo', Ceddes!", Ceddes being my alias that I now went by, "I actually got some work for you this time."

(Note: This Ceddes is pronounced with the first part being the word, "Said" with the "S" sounds at the end. "Saids""Ceddes")

I had a slight smirk as I stood up from my bucket-stool and leaned over the desk top, "Oh yeah? You mean you're not just going to loiter around during your lunch break?"

She rolled her eyes at me as she gave the young boy a smack on his right shoulder, "Whatever. Anyways, this is my little brother. He's a big, clumsy kid and he broke one of his little game system things."

Her little brother held out a small device no larger than my hand. The device had small screen in the center with nearly a dozen buttons surrounding the screen. The shell of the device was made of plastic. A large section of the plastic in the back was cracked revealing the computer drivers and chips that was the heart and brian of the system. The kid looked at me with wide, panicked eyes, "I have over a hundred hours of memory on my game! I can't loose it all."

Wire shook her head and sighed, "Anyways. Can you fix it, Ceddes?"

I took the device from the kid and examined that cracked device. Most of the computer chips were... no pun intended, chipped. Some were even broke in half. I did however find some hope when I saw that a small triangular chip was still in tact, "Well the device itself is shot. I could fix it but it would be incredibly cheaper to just buy a new one." The kid was about to cry when I adopted a calming smile, "Good news is the memory chip is intact so all of your memory is still there. So I'll tell you what. When you buy a new system you come bring it to me. I'll transfer all your old data to your new one and it'll be like you never lost it."

The kid seemed contempt with my diagnosis. I'm sure he wasn't happy that he'd be without his game for awhile but he was defiantly glad he could keep all of his old data. Wire had a big smile on her face, "See, kido, told you it would be all right. So Ceddes what do I owe you for taking a look at it?"

I sat back on my bucket and waved her off, "Don't worry about it. It was nothing."

"Are you sure?" She asked, "I can pay you a few credits."

I shook my head and grinned, "Don't worry. I'll charge you every credit when I have do the actual work."

After a few more minuets of visiting, Wire and her brother left to check out the bazaar and I was back to sitting alone in my, "shop". I waited... and waited... and waited for customers that never came until the sun started falling beyond the horizon. The sky started turning orange and pink as the outside lamps set around town turned on providing light in the dark. I didn't have any paying customers today which wasn't any good but at least it was time for my favorite time of the day, closing time.

I decided to wait until the sun fell completely behind the horizon in hopes that any stragglers from the now closing bazaar happened to stop by... which no one ever did. So I closed the cargo hold door and left the ship via an iron door that I installed in the front ship to cover up a giant rusted hole. I took out a single key and locked the door behind me so nobody would sneak in and steal my parts while I was gone.

From my clunker of a ship I started walking through a now nearly empty bazaar. The only people that remained were salesmen packing up their stuff so, like me, their stuff wouldn't be stolen during the night. I walked past the bazaar and headed toward downtown Soundy-Dail. Soundy-Dail's downtown was mainly an adult section of the city. Bars, clubs, gamboling parlors, and a few other places not worth mentioning were all places that welcomed the night life. Most of the places were rather seedy and I wasn't really interested in even setting foot in them. One place however was my favorite part about Lanoul. A good ol' pub called the, "Evergreen Shade". The name was misleading because it was anything worthy of the name, evergreen. It sounds much cleaner than it actually is.

I walked up to the pub, located near the western outskirts of town. The pub was dome shape and silver to resemble a smaller version of the giant port in town which made sense because it was the most popular establishment in town amongst the people stopping by at the port. Well that is except for one of the clubs in town but again... very seedy.

I walked up to the dome shaped pub and entered through the single, automatic sliding door. Inside of the pub was dark and full of drunks. Most of the furniture was made of wood. Round wooden tables, wooden chairs, wooden floors, wooden bar, only the walls and ceiling were made of metal.

By name it was a pub, a place for food and drink but over a few years time it became just another bar. That was perfect for me. Its all I needed. Especially since I was friends with the bar owner, "Gory" Avory. Avory was a veteran solider for the republic until he got tired of fighting Sith and retired. Some how during his service he got the nickname, "Gory". I never cared enough to ask him how he got that name. I hope its just because it rhymed with Avory.

I never told him the truth about my past or who I was, he was also under the impression my name was Ceddes, but I've felt a connection with him because of his experience with the Sith. Another reason I felt connected with him was because for simply providing him free repair work when he needed it I got free drinks every night. I still had to pay for food though which didn't bother me because the food here sucks.

I walked past some drunks sitting at a round, wooden table to the bar where I saw good ol' Gory mixing some drinks. I sat down at the bar on a bar stool, a proper stool and not a bucket, and slapped the bar top with my hands, "Gory! I'll have one of your famous Gory Busters."

Gory had a huge grin on his giant jowled face. Gory was Sullustan. Sullustans are mouse-eared humanoids with huge round eyes. Gory then finished with his current customer before he made his way over to me, "Hey, Ceddes. A Gory Buster, eh? Rough day?"

(note: a pic of a sullustan on the left /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/character/niennunb/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined)

"Not a single paying customer." I said as I began rubbing the temples of my forehead. As a Jedi, or former Jedi, whenever I got a headache I'd just do a little bit of meditation to free me of my stress and discomfort. However, I still had to put on an act to appear as if I was an average worker because that's what I was trying to become.

Gory's grin then became a full fledged smile, "Well you might want to keep your head clear because we got some high rollers in today." He then pointed to a table full of women in fancy clothing, "A group of rich, middle aged, women on vacation. They thought they'd _rough it_ and visit a local bar and try some hard liquor and gamble a bit. I'm sure they'd love some... _company_. Especially from a young man like yourself."

I chuckled to myself, "Thanks for the tip. Its time for some real work, eh?"

Gory scoffed, "Yeah, work."

I stood up from my seat, adopted a charming smirk, and sauntered on over to their table. They were all human and like Gory mentioned all middle aged. I also noticed they wore way too fancy of clothing for a bar. It was perfect, they were completely oblivious to their surroundings.

As soon as they saw me coming to their table they at first thought with my gruff exterior that I was going to rob them or something because they were ready to run away if it came down to it. I quickly turned on the ol' Laan, err, Ceddes charm, "Ladies, my friend Avory tells me that you've all come here on vacation. You've come to rough it?"

One lady in a purple dress nodded kindly, "Yes, indeed."

"And what do you think of our lil' town?" I asked.

"Its... _exotic_." The same lady said with a forced smile. She obviously thought she was above us. That was good because now I wouldn't feel bad after I worked my angle.

"Well, I also hear that you're a group of high rollers. Lovely high rollers if I might add. Good gamblers, eh?" I asked. Still with my stupid grin plastered on my face.

"We know a thing or two." Another lady in a green dress like robe said, "We've taken your fellow patron's for all they are worth."

I threw my hands into the air as if I was scared, "Well then, I guess I should stay away from you. Even if I am the best in all of Lanoul."

The women looked at each other and whispered to themselves before the one in the purple dress forced another smile, "Do you know the game Eerque?"

Knew it? I was master at it. I wouldn't be letting them know that though, "Oh. Well I've seen others play it before. It doesn't seem too hard."

I think they knew I was full of it, in fact I was sure of it, but that didn't prevent them from challenging me to a few rounds of the dice game, Eerque. Eerque was simple in theory. You roll dice in a cup, overturn the cup and take a peek at your six dice. Two dice were red, two were blue, and two were yellow. You looked for things as a pair of the same number of dice. If the pair was in the same color your points were doubled. Also a run, 1-2-3-4-etc. in a row were worth allot of points. The best possible points was a full run in color suet. Example: 1-2 in red, 3-4 in blue, and 5-6 in yellow. The color order didn't matter as long as it was two of the same color, back-to-back.

The bidding was the real challenge. People could lie and say they had a good point value to scare others away from bidding. People needed to be good liars and also be able to detect another liar. In my case I could use the force to feel if they were lying or not. I don't call it cheating, I call it using my harnessed skills to my advantage. Now if I used the force to shuffle my dice around in the cup while it was tipped upside down THEN I'd be a cheater and I've only done that once before... hey, I needed to eat.

Well, you can call me a cheater in the past or not but today I didn't need the force. I could tell whenever one of them had a good point value by their goofy grins or when they had a bad point value they had a look on their face as if they'd just been slapped with a rubber glove. It took my less than a standard hour to clean more then half of them out. The remaining ladies that still had some credits did the first wise thing of the night and called it quits and left the bar. They left to the chorus of laughs from patrons while I got a bunch of pats on the back. I then stood up, put my hands to my mouth to amplify my voice and shouted, "A round of Gory Busters on me!"

My fellow patrons all gave a loud cheer as I received even more pats on the back. I stood amongst them with a Gory Buster in my hands and shouted for everyone to shut up as I raised my glass up into the air, "Alright, you clowns. Let me just give a toast to everyone in here. I figured I'd give you all a free round because I get free drinks whenever I want because... well, I'm just better than you guys."

That comment got some heat as they started shouting at me. They weren't really mad but after my cliched toast they had to act the roles of the cliched angry drunks. I spent a few more minuets downing the strong, tasteless (unless strong kick to the face is a taste) drinks. They didn't have much of a taste but no one got a Gory Buster for taste. They got Busters for the buzz. I'd like to see one of my old Jedi friends down a Gory Buster in less than twenty standard seconds like I could. Though whenver I did I felt as if I'd just swallowed a forest fire.

I left the bar after I downed two Gory Busters. Any more and I'd become an uncountable drunk. I always feared that if I became to strong under the influence I'd jump up on the bar and start shouting, "I'm a Jedi! I'm a Jedi! I was outcast for killing the Sith Lord! Look at me!" Rather than doing that I decided to just take my winnings, 75,000 republic credits by far the most I've ever made, and head back to my shack before my bar buddies started demanding more free rounds.

As I started walking back to my ship I couldn't help but think about the past. I had so much potential to one day become a Jedi Master. Master Tal would often tell me he saw as a permanent member on the council in the future, which was a huge complement. Only four of the twelve Jedi council members were permanent while the other eight were switched out every few years.

As I thought about what could have been I began thinking about what was. I had become common riff-raff. I made most of my money cheating gamblers out of their money and no matter how much I tried denying it, I was cheating when I used the force in my games. I'm not even a respectable person. I've just settled on my life for the fear of any possible consequences that could come from trying to achieve anything.

I had to hold back tears. It was probably the two Gory Busters that brought upon this sudden depression but that didn't stop me from coming back to the bar every night and ordering some more. I think I liked pitying myself as pathetic as it sounds. After all, who else would? Everyone who knows Laan thinks of him as on outcast and everyone who knows Ceddes doesn't even realize that Ceddes is a fake.

I kept thinking these thoughts until I reached my ship. I scoffed when I saw the piece of junk ship that was my home. I stumbled as I got my key from my pockets. I even dropped the keys once before I finally unlocked the door and entered into my, "home". I went straight to my cot, flopped down face first into my pillow, wrapped myself in a blanket and drifted off to sleep. I had to get a good nights sleep so I could get up and do the same exact thing that I've been doing for the past six months all over again tomorrow... this was what I'd become... This was the legacy of the Jedi that killed Darth Vultous.

--

If you liked these chapters and would like to read more, please visit my site which you can find at on my profile page under home page.I have more chapters there and I'm still working on more. The reason why I'm only going to be posting new chapters on my site is becuase the formating is easier there with much better quality.


	2. Chapter 3: 3324R

I awoke the next morning on the cold, metal floor. Apparently I had rolled off my cot sometime during the night and landed right in one of me piles of spare parts. I rubbed my eyes to clear my sight. Through one of the ship's rusted holes I could see that it was early morning because the sun was just barley over the horizon. I stood up from the ground and took a deep yawn as I stretched my arms out. As I stretched my body some of the parts from the pile that had stuck to my skin fell from my body and hit the ground with a clanging sound.

My body was a little sore, probably from sleeping on the ground, and I had a pounding headache from my hangover. I decided that before I did anything to start my day I'd have to start felling better. So I sat my butt down on the cot, closed my eyes, and began meditating.

As I sat there meditating I could feel the muscles in my body slowly begin to unwind itself. A few minuets of meditating, the stress and tension in my head slowly worked itself away. Just like that after ten minuets of meditating I was back to decent health. That little trick was almost worth the sixteen years of Jedi training alone... almost. Now If only it could cure smell because I stank. So I got up form the cot and washed up in the ship's washroom, which was unfortunately in no better condition than the rest of the ship. Part of washing up was rubbing a special lotion on the skin that prevents extreme dryness of the skin from Lanoul's desert weather. After getting myself spick and span I changed into a white tank top and light gray shorts.

For breakfast, the most important meal in the day, I decided to grab a quick dehydrated beef bar which tasted as bad as it sounds. Sure it was nasty but it was easy, cheep, and good for the body so I made sure to stock up on them whenever I see them on sale.

After gobbling up, and them keeping down, my breakfast, I walked over to the cargo hold door and pounded my fist against a big green button causing the entire ship to jerk violently. After the ship stopped jerking around the sounds of loud grinding gears echoed throughout the cargo hold. The sound was loud enough that if I still had a hangover I'd be going out of my mind right about now. The ship gave one more jerk and grind before the cargo hold door started opening. It took awhile for the rusted door to open all the way but eventually after a few minuets of struggling it opened all the way.

I took another big yawn as I walked down a ramp that came out whenever the door opened. I reached the bottom of the ramp and took a look around. Because it was early morning there were only a few people walking around. Most of the people up this early were shop keepers getting their shops ready in the bazaar. A few of them waved at me as they passed. I smiled and waved back.

As I saw the friendly people walk by, I inhaled the welcome scent of breakfast being made in a restaurant near the bazaar, and watched the sun rise into the sky and all I could think was, here we go again. I hated to think of Soundy-Dail and its people as monotonous but I kept thinking this day would be nothing but a replay of the past six months. I wake up, I work, I take a break, I close shop, I go to Gory's bar, and then I go back to sleep but the more I thought about it the more this feeling kept telling me this day was going to be different.

I decided that since I was already up I may as well open up shop. I got back into the ship and moved my desk over to the front of my shop, not forgetting my bucket chair, and opened for business. I waited on my bucket as I watched more and more people setting up for the bazaar. Most of them ignored me but a few gave more welcome waves which I returned. I felt stupid sitting in the middle of so many people on a bucket... like I did every day.

At first I figured that no one would show up so early but to my surprise I saw Wire walking over to my shop with a leather bag in her hands. She gave me a quick wave as she walked up the ramp and set her bag down on my desk. "Hey there."

I raised an eyebrow, "Hey, loitering or business?"

She put her hand on her hip and frowned, "You know if you keep asking me that I'm going to start thinking that you don't enjoy my company."

I laughed, "Yeah. I guess I wouldn't want you to get that impression."

She shook her head and scoffed as she opened the bag. After a few seconds of digging around in the bag she pulled out two devices. One was the broken game system that her brother brought me yesterday and the other was the same device, save the giant crack in the back. She set them down on the desk and looked me in the eye. I could have sworn she was trying to do a sad, little, puppy dog face, "Hey, Ceddes... umm... So I went to the bazaar with my brother yesterday after we visited you. There I saw another game system. One that worked. So I secretly bought it without my brother knowing about it. I wanted to surprise him."

I nodded my head and smiled, "That's good. So now you want me transfer your brother's data?"

She forced a large smile and shrugged her shoulders, "Well you see. I spent all the spare money I had on the game so I don't have any spare credits. At least not until the end of the week when I get paid."

I took a deep breath and sighed, "All right. I'll do it now and you can pay me later. Fortunate for you, I robbed some ladies at Eerque last night. I got a huge payday."

"Well good for you!" She said with a smile and a pump of the arms before getting back to business, "Now can you hurry it up! I gotta get to work soon."

I gave her a stern look before grabbing the two systems and stood up. I headed to the back of the shop, or front of the ship, and placed them on the ground near a cylinder shaped device about the size of a human torso. It was a computer. I reached around the back of the computer and found a little cord connected to the computer. I took the end of the cord that wasn't connected to the computer in one hand and grabbed the broken system in my other. Near the bottom of the system is a plug-in designed for the cord in my hand. This type of plug-in was universal and could fit many different types of cords and wires each with a different purpose.

This cored led to a section of the computer that took information from one source and saved it into its memory. When I plugged the game into the computer I hit a black button with a green "up" arrow on it. The computer then began saving the game's memory into one of it temporary memory drives. When it finished it made a loud beep signaling that it was finished. I unplugged the broken system and placed it on the ground before picking the new game up. I repeated the process except this time hitting a black button with an orange, "Down" arrow. This button caused the computer to then take the data that was just saved into the computer and insert the data into the new source, in this case the new game system.

When I heard the beep I unplugged the new system from the computer. I bent over and grabbed the broken device then walked back to the front of the shop where Wire was waiting, impatiently. I sat back down on my bucket as I placed the two devices onto the desk top, "All finished."

Wire clapped her hands together, "Thank you so much! I wanted to surprise my little brother with this gift. It'll cheer him up." I could feel a deep sorrow fill her heart as she continued, "My brother has been doing nothing but playing games lately. He's been acting so strange lately and all the other kids are making fun of him for it... so he has no friends."

It was none of my business but something inside me told me to ask her, "He's been acting... strange?"

She shook her head as if she had just snapped out a trance, "Umm... never mind. I didn't mean to gush about my problems to you."

I got a distant, dark feeling. I had no idea what it meant and it was too faint to understand it. I had to snap out of my own trance, "Hey, its no problem."

She shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Well, I have to get to work." She put the two devices into her carrying bag, "Well... thanks again. Umm... bye."

I felt as if I should say something to her but I did nothing but wave to her as she left. I started to get worried. Something didn't feel right but then again my feelings were all too distant for me to read. All I could do is go on with my day to day business like normal but I'd have to stay aware of my feelings at all times. I refused to be caught off guard by anything... hopefully it was just a passing feeling and nothing more.

It was noon already. I had two paying customers early in the morning. My first customer wanted me to repair her holocam but after looking at it I told her that in her case she'd be better buying a new one. She thought I didn't know what I was talking about and told me to repair it anyways. It was a quick fix. I only had to replace a single part. However the part I had to replace was the bulb of the cam and cam bulbs are far from cheep, not that I'm complaining. I got paid in full.

The second thing I repaired was a small gonk droid. The only thing I had to do was replace a few worn down and twisted wires near its processor. Normally I'd be thrilled to have two decent paying customers but not today. No matter what I did to busy myself I still had an uneasy feeling. Sometimes it would disappear and I'd hope it was all nothing but eventually it would always return.

Now that I had nothing to do I sat at my desk, on my bucket, staring into the sky, or more... past the sky. I stared into space wondering what was going on beyond the stars. I hadn't been off of Lanoul in the past six months and I was wondering what was going on out there. Wondering if perhaps the Jedi council had finally reached some stability... I knew it hadn't. Wondering if the Sith were weakening... I knew they wern't. Wondering what Master Tal would think of what had become of my life... I had no idea about that one. Wondering if any of it had to do with my constant dark feelings... I'd probably find out.

My aimless wondering came to a sudden halt as everything around me began to come into an impactfulll pulse. The distant dark feeling came to a full warning. I stood up from my seat and saw the people around me running. They were running from the domed port. They all ran with fear for their lives. I saw it in their eyes and felt it in their hearts. They were terrified.

On instinct I hoped over my desk and landed onto the ramp outside my ship. I looked over to the dome and instantly noticed what everyone was afraid of. Like a raven in the sky, a black, sleek, Sith ship had landed on the outskirts of town. Rather than landing at the port they landed just outside the port. Probably so they wouldn't have to officially register their ship in the dome's data logs.

From a distance I could make out a few smaller figures walking from the ship toward town. They were nothing but blurs at the moment but I got a chill just looking at them. I clenched my fists and scowled. This had to be the dark feeling! Nothing was right about this. Sith had visited Soundy-Dail many times in the past, each time they did the townspeople reacted the same, but never before have they landed outside of the port. Whatever they were planning on doing, they didn't want to be recorded in the data logs for it.

I looked back at the crowd. None of them even noticed me. They were too worried about the Sith, as they should be. I quickly hopped back into my ship and ran over to one of my piles of junk. I outstretched my right hand and pointed my palm toward the center of the pile. I concentrated on a single object at the bottom of the pile. I used the force and almost like an invisible arm of the force I yanked the object form the bottom of the pile, causing the parts in the pile to fly around the room, and summoned the object into my right palm. The object was a lightsaber handle. It wasn't pretty. The handle was smaller than normal and it's metal shell was unpolished, plain, and clunky. It may have been ugly on the outside but it was well constructed. I kept the weapon hidden in one of the piles in case of an emergency. I slid the small saber into one of my large pant pockets keeping it concealed.

I took a deep breath as I once again leapt over my desk and stood on the ramp outside my ship. I stood there watching the Sith make their way to Soundy-Dail. As they got closer I could make them out. Seven Sith troopers and another Sith in a black cloak. The Sith troopers were the common fighting force for the Sith. Unlike the Sith Lords and Sith apprentices the troopers usually weren't sensitive to the force. Rather than lightsabers they fought with the more common blaster. They wore black body gloves that covered their entire body except for their heads. Strapped over the body glove was dark gray blaster armor placed on various parts of the body. The troopers were most recognizable by their sleek, dark gray helmets. A black, visor, face plate masked the trooper's face. The trooper's helmet covered their entire head, unless the wearer was of a species that had horns or something of the sort the would protrude from the helmet. Then they'd have to make holes in the helmet themselves. Along with the intimidating armor, each trooper also had a blaster the size of a human forearm strapped to their side. The Sith troopers were low on the Sith food chain but they weren't anything to mess around with.

The Sith in the black cloak accommodating them was probably the commander of the unit. This confirmed that they meant business. I'd seen troopers in Soundy-Dail before but never a Sith commander. I looked back over my left shoulder and saw that the streets of Soundy-Dail were almost completely abandoned. All but a few like me, watching the Sith arrive from a far. The one straggler that stood out the most was the Gotal mayor of Soundy-Dail, Rento Purren. A Gotal was a humanoid species with a flat face and was marked by a pair of ridged cone-like horns sprouting from the top of their head. He was walking from his house behind the bazaar toward the dome where the Sith were coming from.

(note: Gotal, the one in the middle, /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/gotal/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined)

Rento stood their in his white vest and white skirt. He stood there trying to look as serious as possible but he couldn't mask his fear no matter how hard he tried... and to his credit he tried hard. With every step he took he grew more and more anxious. I looked back toward the Sith who were getting closer... and my ship was in the middle of them both.

As Rento walked by in front of my ship I ran down the ramp and met with him, "Wait! What are you doing?"

Rento stopped in place and lowered his head, "I have to meet with the Sith. I have to tell them they can't enter town without registering in the data banks."

"Don't be a fool." I said as I put a hand on his shoulder and used the Jedi calming technique. By flowing calming thoughts through his body I was able to calm him down a bit, "They'll kill you if you try anything like that."

"I can't allow them in my city." He said firmly... he was too headstrong for my Jedi trick, "They wouldn't dare kill a mayor of a Lanoul city. We are neutral and they wouldn't want to make another enemy."

I shook my head, "The Sith don't care about Lanoul. Lanoul has no use to anyone which is the only reason why it isn't under Sith control now. Don't give them a reason. If you stand in their way the entire planet could pay for it. Don't underestimate them."

He shook his head in defiance, "No, Ceddes. They are not fools. They would never attack a man of my position for no reason."

I frowned, "No, they are not fools. They know there is nothing you can do to stop them and they _will_ kill you."

"You are but a boy, Ceddes. You know nothing of politics." He finalized as he continued his march toward the Sith. I tried to stop him but he was too determined. I could do nothing but watch him march closer and closer toward the Sith. By the time he reached the Sith, they were all ready near the entrance of town. Only a few meters away from entering the city. I watched from a distance as Rento began a conversation with them. I couldn't hear them but I could see Rento pointing toward the Sith ship. I assumed he was telling them to leave but I would never get a chance to ask Rento about it. Soon after Rento confronted them a Sith trooper shot him dead. I clenched my jaw and lowered my head for Rento. I felt bad for him but he acted foolish and paid the price for it.

The Sith began their march back into town as if nothing had happened. Killing was all a standard act for them. I slowly walked back toward my ship as they got closer and closer. I walked up the ramp and sat down on my desktop, keeping a stern eye on them. When they finally arrived into the bazaar area I could finally make out the Sith commander. It was a human male in long, black robes. I'm sure he was burning up in those robes but I guess he'd rather look intimidating than look comfortable. He was young too. Even younger than I am.

There was something even more odd than his young age and that was his attitude. It was if he was trying to act tougher than he actually was. He walked with a cocky strut and a stupid grin on his face. It looked ridiculous. No Sith commander would ever act like this. I realized that he was no commander but if he wasn't a commander why was he in charge of a small unit. Unless these weren't his troops. Maybe they were his bodyguards. Why would this kid need Sith bodyguards?

My thoughts were interrupted when one trooper stopped his march and walked up the ramp toward me. I gave him a cold look as I stood up from my desk and looked down at the shorter trooper. At first the trooper seemed a little hesitant to approach me. That didnt' last long. He must have realized that he was a feared trooper and I was, at least to his knowledge, a simpleton. He stood in front of me, standing face-to-faceplate. He looked up at my repair sign and grunted. I cocked my head to the side and gave him a patronising look, "Can I help you, _sir_?"

The Sith chuckled as he removed his blaster from his side and jammed the barrel into my side. I didn't flinch. He squeezed the trigger, I still didn't flinch. I had no reason to flinch. If I was in immediate danger the force would let me know. I was right to listen to the force as the blaster never fired even though he pulled the trigger. The Sith pulled his blaster away from my side and handed it to me, "If you're _any sort_ of repairman you can fix my blaster. Its been giving me some trouble lately."

I grabbed the blaster from his hands and looked it over. As soon as I saw what model blaster it was I knew what to look for. I ejected the blaster's battery pack and looked inside the section of the blaster where you insert the pack. I spotted the problem, inserted the battery pack into the blaster, and handed the weapon back to the trooper, "You are using the 45 model. This model often has a faulty charger and often ends up draining to much power from the battery packs at once. This causes the battery pack to leak and fry the charger. You should upgrade to the 64 model."

The Sith stood there as he thought about what I told him. I think he was expecting me to know nothing about blasters and wanted to make me look like a fool. Well he failed. I hated giving a Sith advice but I also hated getting shot and if making one of them look like a fool was a result, all the better.

The trooper just nodded his head like he knew it all along and without paying me he walked back to the rest of his squad. Without the distractions I turned my attention back to the young Sith in robes. He stood in the center of the street with his eyes closed and hands out stretched in front of him. He had his eyes closed in a deep concentration. He kept moving his body and pointing his stretched hands towards different directions as if he was being guided... probably by the force.

I suddenly realized who this kid was. Many years ago the Sith would train certain Sith for only one purpose, to find others sensitive to the force. Back when I was in the Jedi order I heard that Darth Vultous had resurrected the same tactic and began training young Sith to seek out other young ones sensitive to the force. Vultous wanted to search for these specific young ones all across the galaxy. When they were found they would be taken, by force if needed, from their friends or families and sent to Sith academies.

There at the academies they would be evaluated by Sith lords. When the Sith finished evaluating them one of three things would happen. The Sith would accept the young one and begin training them, or the Sith would decided they weren't strong enough in the force to bother with force training and would train them as troopers where they would often meet their fate as cannon fodder, or if they were deemed worthy enough in the force and the child refused to join them, the Sith would kill the child so the Jedi couldn't recruit them. It was a cowardly act and was one of the reasons why I don't regret killing Darth Vultous. However, it would seem the new Dark Lord of the Sith had continued with Vultous's evil tactic. Fortunate for me Sith seekers could only detect the force in younglings. Younglings that usually weren't even aware of their untapped abilities. Someone like me could easily mask my presence from them. Unless they had some sort of unheard of power.

That would also explain his age and his group of Sith troopers. The Sith only started training these new Sith seekers only a decade ago. So the first batch of trainees would only be around eighteen years old. As for the troops, I was right about them being bodyguards. The Sith seekers were trained only to search for young forcelings and knew nothing about battle.

I continued scouting his technique. He still had his eyes closed and arms out stretched in front of him. Only now he was slowly walking, step by step. Each Sith trooper, as well as myself, watched him in amazement and curiosity. I put my hands on my hips and squinted in mild concentration. I was trying to get a feed off his thoughts. Maybe I'd be able to detect what he was detecting. Try as I might I couldn't get a read off him unless I wanted to use enough force power that would unmask my presence from him. That was a risk I wasn't willing to take, at least not yet.

The seeker must have gotten a strong reading because he picked his pace up from a slow walk to a jog. The troopers readied their weapons and trotted after him. I watched from the back of my ship until they disappeared down an alleyway between the bazaar and a local Inn. As soon as they were out of sight I levitated my lightsaber from my pocket to my left hand and with my right hand I levitated a small shard of broken glass inside of my ship to the palm of my hand. Without further hesitation I ran after them kicking up a large trail of sand behind me.

I ran toward the alleyway they disappeared behind and quickly halted as I reached the corner of the local Inn. I put my back to the Inn's brick red wall and slowly edged my way toward the corner. I took the piece of glass in my rand hand and held it just beyond the corner. I angled the glass in my hand until I caught a reflection of six of the seven troopers standing outside a sand colored house. I couldn't get much of a look from the glass so I dropped the glass to the ground. I turned around to face the wall of the Inn and looked at the Inn form top to bottom. It was two stories tall with a flat roof. It was perfect.

I concentrated the force into my body and used what is known as a force jump. When a force user concentrates their force into their body they can leap higher than usual. The highest I've ever leapt was around nine meters. The Inn was only around seven meters tall. So I took a quick, deep breath and leapt high into the air. I landed feet first on the top of the Inn. I knew that nearly all the roofs in Soundy-Dail were flat so that made my job easier. I started running and leaping from rooftop to rooftop down the left side of the alleyway. I continued my stealthy, acrobat act until I reached the house on the opposite side of the one that the troopers were standing around.

I laid down on my belly to keep my visibility as low as possible then crawled over to the building's ledge. I popped my head over the edge just enough to get a good view of the troopers. They were all standing around the sand colored house with their blasters drawn, ready to fire. I had a really bad feeling about all of this. My feelings only got worse when I got a look inside the house's living room through the front door. There I saw the cloaked Sith verbally arguing with a grown man. I couldn't tell exactly what they were fighting about but I guessed it had to do with the seeker finding a young forceling in the house.

After a few more minuets of watching them argue, my guess came to fruition. I saw the seventh trooper enter the living room dragging a young boy behind him. I clenched my jaw trying to hold back my anger when I recognized the boy as Wire's younger brother. A sudden picture of thoughts drew itself in my mind. Wire mentioned her brother was acting weird lately and when she did I started getting that dark feeling. Those sensitive to the force are often viewed as weird by others, especially at a young age and somehow the force was trying to tell me that this boy was going to be in trouble because of his talents.

I wasn't sure how the force was telling me just by a brief conversation with Wire that a boy would be in trouble many hours later. Some great Jedi masters may have had such foresight but I was never taught anything near this sort of premonition in teachings. I couldn't lay around thinking about that though. I had to do something.

The trooper continued dragging the boy by his arm through the living room. The boy fought back as much as possible but he was no match for the trooper. His father stepped up and tried to help his son but the Sith withdrew a crimson bladed lightsaber from his side. Just from his stance I could tell he didn't know how to fight with a lightsaber but against an unarmed father he didn't need know anything other than how to swing it and he was planning to. He raised his saber over his head ready to strike the father down. I had to act fast but I was too far away to act physically. I quickly thought of something and figured it was the only way.

I quick closed my eyes and released as much force power as I could. In doing so I unmasked myself from the force and from the seeker. The Seeker instantly noticed my presence and took a few steps back. He crossed his lightsaber over his chest in a childish defensive tactic. The trooper dragging the boy must have noticed something was wrong by the seeker's actions. The trooper stopped and said something to him. The seeker shouted something back as he began fidgeting around. I couldn't hear what he said but neither could the six troopers standing around the house. So for those six troopers nothing seemed out of the ordinary... so I figured I'd change their thinking.

I gripped my saber tight in my hand as I popped up to my feat and leaped toward the six troopers. When I was airborne I closed my eyes and had to quickly clear my mind of any outside thoughts. I had to concentrate on my surroundings and the troopers around me. I could feel the ground beneath me getting closer and closer. Before I landed on the ground I quickly rolled my myself into the landing. At the same time I landed I ignited the teal colored blade of my lightsaber. I opened my eyes and saw the six Sith troops aiming their weapons at me. I positioned myself into a one kneed crouch and grinned as I took a large swipe with my saber, decapitating three of their blasters rendering them useless.

Two of the the other troopers shot at me with their still functioning blasters. I quick hopped up into a standing position. The quick hop caused one blaster bolt to miss me. The other bolt was still coming at my back, fast. I twirled the saber over my left shoulder and around my back, deflecting the blaster bolt off my saber and back into the chest of the trooper that originally shot it. Even with the blaster armor the bolt was enough to strike the trooper dead. With one trooper down that left three unarmed troopers and two troopers with a blaster in their hands.

First thing I did instantly after I dropped the first trooper I outstretched my had toward the three unarmed troopers and used a technique called the force push. Its pretty much self-explanatory. Force push was a standard technique used by most force users. It basically channeled the force into a sudden, and depending on the intended power, a very violent push toward an individual, or if strong enough, to a group. These three were somewhat clustered together so I used a powerful push and sent the three troopers flying backward into the stone wall of the house behind them. They hit the wall with a loud thud. I had used enough power to knock them unconscious.

Two remained. Allot had happened in only a few seconds time, thus both troopers were still off guard. The trooper, that along with her dead comrade had fired upon my just seconds ago, aimed her blaster toward my head. In the brief moment she used to aim her weapon I had already swiped my saber through her blaster, disabling it. It happened so sudden she never noticed her blaster was half the size it used to be and tried shooting me. Of course nothing happened. She looked down at her blaster and before she even realized her weapon was destroyed I force pushed her into the wall of the sand colored house.

One remained. The last of the six aimed his blaster at me. I rolled my eyes and switched my lightsaber off. He kept his weapon aimed at me. I don't know if he was too afraid to think or if he was just an idiot but he pulled the blasters trigger... nothing happened. He must not have recognized me as the guy that told him his blaster was busted and didn't work because he kept trying over and over again to shoot me with a useless scrap of metal. I ran past him toward the sand colored house's entrance. He was about to slam the butt of the blaster into the back of my skull when I force pulled, opposite of force push, his head into the side of the door's stone wall. Helmet or not he was knocked out cold. Five unconscious and one dead, not too bad.

I entered the sand colored house with my lightsaber gripped in my right hand. As I entered into the living room I got another bad feeling. That feeling was realsied when I saw the father on the ground with a deep and fatal lightsaber wound in his left rib, near his heart. To my left, near the corner of the living room a middle aged women, I assumed the mother, laying motionless with a blaster bolt wound near her neck. The mother was allready dead and the father was moments away from passing. There was nothing I could do for him. I tried to save his when I saw the Sith draw his lightsaber, but during my quick fight with the troopers him and his wife were struck down. I failed. The only thing that remianed was the boy. His face was pale and emotioless as the trooper held his blaster to the temple of his head.

I had to take a deep breath to calm my emotions. A part of me wanted to rip my blade through their bodies but I couldn't allow that part of me to take over. As the trooper held the boy hostage, the seeker started chuckling as he pointed his lightsaber blade at me, "Look Jedi. Look at what you did. Two lives, forever extinguished. All because you wanted to get in the way of the Sith."

I kept my face emotionless, "Look, junior. I'm no Jedi and you are no Sith Lord. You are but a peon. So stop acting like you belong with the big boys."

The trooper was smarter than the seeker and had to be the light of reason for him, "Careful. This one is not to be taken lightly."

The seeker paid no attention to the trooper's advice and decided he could take me on with his lightsaber alone. He thrust his lightsaber at me without any form or tactic in mind. He wasn't of my concern. What I had to worry about was the trooper with his blaster pointed at the boy's head. I easily sidestepped his thrust in one quick motion and with my next motion I reached my hand toward the trooper's blaster. Through the force, I yanked the barrel of the blaster away from the child's head and yanked it toward me. The jerking motion caused the trooper to accidently pull the trigger causing a bolt to fire from the blaster's chamber. The bolt flew inches over my right shoulder and found its mark behind me where the seeker now stood from his thrusting attempt. The young and inexperienced seeker fell dead from the bolt striking him in the side of his unprotected head.

The trooper gave up his attempt at holding the boy hostage and gripped his blaster with both of his hands, hoping he could keep me from manipulating his blaster again. The boy now freed ran from the trooper and to his dying father's side. The trooper started firing wildly at me hoping one of his shots would hit me. I dodged the first two before swiping one of the bolts away from me and into the troopers left hip. This caused him to stagger and caused a long enough of a distraction for me to leap in front of him and slice the tip of my saber a few inches into his chest. He dropped his blaster grabbed his chest in pain. He wasn't distracted for long as he reached with his left hand toward his waist where he had a thermal detonator clipped to his belt. Thermal detonators are small explosives in a small round sphere. He was planning on taking us all out so I had no choice but to decapitate him with my saber before he got to his detonators. Five disabled and three dead, too messy.

I took a deep breath and sighed as I flipped my lightsaber off. I looked over my right shoulder and saw the boy crying over his father's body. He had passed away during my altercation with the last trooper. I walked over to the boy, knelt down on one knee, and placed my hand on the back of his neck. I thought about using the calming powers of the force but decided against it. Sometimes people just needed to cry and mourn.

I sat with the boy as he cried over his parents. A few minuets later Wire ran into the house. From work she heard about the attack from the neighbors and rushed over. She saw her parents and grabbed her brother in a tight embrace as they both shed tears for their fallen parents. Without a word I stood up and left them alone. They needed to be alone and I needed to find some things out.

--

I stood outside the city, gazing upon the Sith ship. The ship was a tri-foiled _Corrbinn_-class transport shuttle. It may have been Sith but I had to admire it's design. The ship was the color of a starless night, pitch black. The body of the ship was a sleek bullet shape with a curved, transparent window near the tip of the body. The back fuselage section of the body was where a small group of soldiers would sit during transport.

The ship had three wings attached to the body. Two of the wings were side mounted. Each of these two wings had an ion engine attached at the base of the wings. Ion engines are one of the most common engines that propel star ships. The third wing was placed on the top of the ship, along its spine. The hyperdrive engine was placed at the base of this third wing. The body itself was only around five meters long, the side mounted wings were just less than three meters long, and the wing based off the spine was only about a meter and a half long. It wasn't a large transport shuttle but it was well armed and agile enough to be used in space battle.

Fortunately, the Sith left the back ramp, near the rear of the bullet shaped body, down. I took a last glimpse of the outside of the ship before I walked up the ramp and into the ship's body. Inside of the tube shaped fuselage there were two benches to the left and right. This is where the soldiers would strap down during transportation. I figure five average shaped humanoids could fit on each bench. In the center on the fuselage was a small pedestal with a holocam attached to the top of it. Beyond the fuselage was the single manned cockpit. The cockpit had one chair with a controls based around the single chair.

I knew what I wanted to do, I wanted to find some information about the Sith but I didn't know where to find it. If such information even existed on this ship. I doubted that the Sith would leave any vital information in such an obvious place but the Sith I fought today seemed somewhat inept. Maybe they were careless. Before I began my search I heard footsteps coming up the ramp behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Gory coming up the ramp behind me with a smirk on his face, "You know if you would have told me you were a Jedi I would have comped your food too."

I laughed, "Yeah well... you're food is something I don't really feel comfortable putting in my body anyways."

He cocked his head to the side and pointed to my gut, "Trust me food ain't as bad my Gory Busters."

"True," I said admittingly, "Besides, I'm no longer a Jedi."

"Yeah" He said as he sat down on one of the ship's benches, "I figured that. Why would a Jedi spend six months on Lanoul?"

I sat down on the bench across from him. They were uncomfortable seats. Due to the ships tube like body I couldn't sit back all the way and my neck had to be bent forward. I guess Sith weren't much for comfort. I put my right elbow on my right leg and rested my chin on my right palm. I took a deep breath and sighed, "I was hoping to live a peaceful life here. It may be a dessert planet but its nice here. I wanted to leave my past behind me... but I knew that wouldn't last long. In fact, six months is longer than I expected to live in any one place."

"Sounds like you've got some plans off Lanoul." He said as he fidgeted in his uncomfortable seat.

"Yeah. I can't stay here. Besides, after six months I realized a peaceful life just isn't for me. Its... boring." I told him.

"You are still young. When you get my age things will slow down... well maybe not. You are a Jedi after all... or at least have their powers." He smiled as he started reminiscing, "When I fought for the Republic I fought along side many Jedi. They are true warriors. I'm sure you are the same."

I shook my head, "No. People die around me. I was outcast from the Order by leading so many Jedi to their graves... and today I couldn't save Gully's parents... I did manage to spare some of the Sith's lives though... the enemy I could help but not the innocent."

Gory reached over and slapped me in the knee cap, "Kid, this is war! You can't expect to save everyone. Jedi aren't all powerful. You can only do what you can do. You managed to save as many lives as you could today and that is all you can ask of yourself. You helped the boy today so... why do you think you can't help people just because you are no longer a Jedi?"

I didn't have an answer for his question. After I was outcast I thought I could no longer fight for those who couldn't defend themselves but I did that today for Wire's brother. I still wasn't convinced though, "What about Gully's parents? They might not have been killed if I hadn't of... _helped_."

"How do you know that?" He asked, "Even if they died because of you, which I don't think they did, their son is still alive and well. Don't you think that's what they would have wanted?"

I grumbled, "Yeah, all right. I get it!... Maybe I should start helping people again?"

"That," He said, "Is you're choice and you're choice alone."

He was wise for an old drunk. I had to admit he was right. I needed to decide where to go from here on my own. I was hoping for some advice but I was a man now and had to live my own life. My thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of more footsteps coming up the ramp. I looked over and saw Wire standing at the top of the ship's ramp. Her eyes were pink from crying and her face was very somber. I scooched over on the bench to give her room to sit down next to me. She walked over and sat down with a quite sigh, "So... you are a Jedi, Ceddes?"

I watched her as she slumped over in her seat and rested her elbows on her knees. For a second I thought she was going to vomit but she didn't. I put my arm across her shoulders, "Well, not anymore... and I should mention my real name is Laan."

She actually chuckled for a brief second after I told her I'd used an alias for the past six months. Gory forced a gentle smile, "How you doin' girl?"

"I'm doing... all right." She said, "The surviving Sith have been arrested and are being shipped to the nearest Republic strong hold... My brother is with some neighbors while some family friends are taking the bodies near the outskirts of town. We're burying them tonight... I don't know what to do now. What if they come back for my brother?"

I gave her shoulders a slight squeeze, "Go to the Jedi temple in Coruscant. Tell them about you're brother. He's too old to begin training which is a good thing. The first part of training is saying goodbye to you're family forever. However, they will provide with a sanctuary from the Sith."

"I know some people in Coruscant from my days in the Republic. I can take you there and set you up somewhere nice." Gory added.

"Thanks." She said without emotion.

"You should probably leave as soon as you can." I told them.

"What are you planning on doing, Ceddes... err... Laan?" She asked.

"I'm not sure yet." I said, "I'm trying to find something about the Sith in this ship."

"Need help?" She asked, "I need something to take my min doff things anyways."

"I'll help as well." Gory offered.

"Sure," I said as I stood up, "I'll check the computers at the cockpit. You two can check for anything around around here. Look for anything that might hold information."

Wire looked over at the central pedestal, "Like a holocam?"

"Exactly." I said with a slight smile.

"Well lets watch some videos, eh Gully?" Gory asked with a forced cheery attitude.

I left them to watch any messages or videos left on the holocam while I sat down at the cockpit's only chair. This may have been the only comfortable chair I've sat in my entire time in Lanoul. From a bucket, bar stool, a stiff cot, and hard benches, this padded chair was a nice change of pace. Guess Sith care about comfort after all. Down to business though. I looked the control panel over. I wasn't familiar with the overall layout of this control panel but it didn't take long for me to figure out what most of the buttons and levers did.

The first thing I did was open the navicomputer by hitting a black button. A hologram of the overall galaxy popped up to my left. I played around with some of the configurations hoping to find the last place recorded on the navicomputer. Maybe it would reveal a Sith location. However, the ever crafty Sith had erased any and all past locations from their navicomputer. I tried hacking into the navicomputer hoping the remnants of the erased memory still remained somewhere but there was nothing.

My meaningless attempt at hacking the navicomputer ended when Gory called for me, "Laan, this might be worth something."

I hopped out of the chair and walked to the back. I stood there as a holo-image of a female Sith clad in black robes hovered above the pedestal as the holocam played the recording. Her face was masked by her robe's hood and her voice was very scrambled over the holocam but she seemed familiar, "-ust bri... back any ...ld you find ... to the Hyarsythe ...demy," I could just make out the name, Hyarsythe academy. Now I knew who she was, "-...do not fail me."

The image turned into static and vanished as the recording ended. Gully looked up at me, she actually seemed a little more cheerful at the sight of this video, "This has to be something! Do you know who she is?"

"Yeah." I told her, "Her name is Phyress Lokindr. When I was a Padawan I was told about a hidden Sith academy, the for mentioned Hyarsythe academy. She was hand picked by Darth Vultous to run it. I remember seeing images of her in one of the Republic's most wanted files. During my time as a Padawan the academy was never found and she was never captured."

"So that academy she was talking about, you think its the same one you couldn't find?", Wire asked.

"Most likely." I responded.

"So, Ceddes... sorry, Laan, do you think you can use this message for anything?" Gory asked.

I smirked and shrugged my shoulders, "Maybe. Depends on how crafty the Sith are. I've got some hacking to do."

I got back into the cockpit's chair and started my work. I started by opening the ship's main operating system which came up in a blue, holographic screen to my right. I opened a program that held the ship's incoming messages. Only one message remained in the ship's system but it was the only one I needed. I opened a few files until I was able to open a small black screen with nothing but a yellow text code. The code was the message's calling code. Every message sent by any holocam is encoded with a unique code made of letters and numbers. Different parts of the code meant Different things. One part of the code had something to do what make of holocam was sending the message. Another part had something to do with how far across the galaxy the message was sent. Some of the code was just random. There are many parts of the code and many reasons for each part of the code. The part I was looking for had to do with where the message was sent from. The hard part about finding that is not all holocams are attached to any tracking device so the message would have no way of nothing where its being sent from. So that part is not always written into the code. The Sith may have intentianlly used one of those holocams for just such a reason. Hopefully they didn't know about the code, most people didn't and if it wasn't for old man Herrvis I wouldn't have either.

After carefully looking the code over, I was overjoyed to find the part I was looking for. The section near the later half of the code that read, 332-4R. I knew for a fact I could use this to track the sender of the message down but this was only half the process. None the less I could harley contain my excitement. I shot back to Wire and Gory, "I've got it!"

Wire and Gory walked over to the cockpit and looked over my shoulder at the screens in front of me. Wire shook her head, "Umm... I don't understand any of this."

I pointed to the 332-4R on the smallest screen, "That's it! I'm pretty sure I can track down where ever the message was sent with this code."

"How do you do that?" Gory asked.

"I'll show you." I said as I got rid of all the screens and brought up the main system program again. I opened a file for the ship's navicomputer. From that file I opened up another one causing the ship's navicomputer to flicker back on to my left. I looked at the familiar hologram of the overall scope of the galaxy. So many systems, so many stars, so many planets and I was about to track one down with a simple code. I opened yet another file inside the ship's system causing a little blank screen to pop up. It was a system writer... which is complicated... but basically you can alter a few things in the navicomputer by using the information all ready stored inside of it. I entered the code, 332-4R into the system writer causing the navicomputer to temporarily flicker off and back on a few times. At first I thought I broke it until the navicomputer flipped on and stayed on. This time a single planet was shown on the navicomputer. A blue planet with a large ocean and light blue masses in various areas around the sphere. Below the planet the code, 332-4R was written in white text. I closed all of the program files leaving only the navicomputer. The 332-4R text then transformed into the name of the planet, Apsus.

I clapped my hands together, "Thats it! I could see the academy on this planet. Its almost unheard of and far out of the way of any other planets. A perfect location for a Sith academy."

I zoomed the navicomputer out from the single planet and saw a screen of the outer rim system. It was near the edge of the system so it must be a cold planet. Gory patted me on the shoulder, "Well, I'm impressed. So what are you going to do now? Turn this into the Republic?"

It was a good idea in theory but I couldnt' do that. First of all they might not even listen to me and second of all I don't trust what they'd do with this information. Right now the Republic is run by warmongers, as are the Jedi. Those who live by the way of justice and peace have been pushed aside by the brawny. It was causing a war within the Republic and the Jedi Order. The more I thought about it the more I confirmed within myself that I could not trust them. To answer Gory's question I just sat back into my chair and lowered my head, "Whatever I do, I have to do myself. I can't trust any of them at this moment."

"Wait! What can you do by yourself?" Wire asked with a tone of concern in her voice.

I shrugged my shoulders and cocked a grin, "Well... what I'm planning on doing... will probably get me killed."

"Whoa, Laan!" Gully shook her hands in front of my face, "Are you thinking clearly?"

I brushed her hands from my face, "I can't hold back from the force any longer. I want to help people... Hopefully I'll do that or die trying. It may sound extreame to you two but this is what I want to do."

Wire and Gory exchanged worried looks before Gory patted me on the shoulder again, "We can't stop you so we may as well support you. Even if it is from afar..."

And that was that. I knew I had to act as quickly as possible and I would have to leave Lanoul almost immediately. The longer I waited the more likely the Sith would find out the seeker unit had been captured or killed. If they figured that out they might be on the look out for their ship and I needed this ship to leave the planet. That and the fact that the anticipation was killing me.

I spent another hour on Lanoul. I said my farewell to "Gory" Avory whom I gave my busted up ship and all the parts inside to. I said farewell to Gully who thanked me for helping her brother and said I could visit them in Coruscant whenever I wanted. I said farewell to Gully's brother who finally told me his name, Riveth. I wished him luck and gave him some simple tips about the force and how to deal with a few things. At least I thought that was farewell...

A few weeks ago I mentioned to Wire that I had always wanted to be able to afford to buy something nice from the bazaar. Before I left, the three of them took me to the bazaar and offered to buy me something from the bazaar, no matter what the cost. I assured them that they didn't need to, but they forced me to go shopping in the bazaar. I looked around and really did enjoy myself. I eventually found something that caught my eye, a necklace. It was a bit thicker and a bit heaver than regular necklaces, made specially for men so I liked it. The cord of the necklace was made of silver chain links. The ornament that hung from the necklace was beautiful. The ornament was a Lanoul wolf's head in front of a sun, causing sun rays to form around the wolf's head. Lanoul wolves lived in the mountains around Soundy-Dail. They are known to be loyal to the other wolves in the pack. The wolf was made of silver with black eyes. The sun rays around the wolf were also sliver.

It was the most fun I'd ever had on Laounl and I appreciate the fact the Wire and Riveth spent time with me during such a difficult time for them but I think they needed me just as I needed them at the moment. I wore my necklace around my neck as I said my final farewells and entered the Sith ship. I brought the ramp back into the ship and sealed the door behind me. I put my back to the door as I reached up and held the ornament of the necklace in my right palm. I looked at it's shiny surface and sighed. I just had the best moment in the past six years of my life and its unfortunate that it came between two very dark moments. One being the slaughter of Wire and Riveth's parents and the other being what I was about to do. It was a very risky plan and I knew I would have to keep this memory in mind because it could very well be the last good memory I ever have... My plan could either kill me... or it could draw me to the dark side of the force. I place I never hoped to travel...


	3. Chapter 4: Line in the Sand

Here is chapter 4. It features a new character. Of course, like allways, I'll also ask you to please visist my homepage which u can find on my profile page. Anyways, here it is.

--

Jedi Master Zade Rad'hyth sat in his throne-like-chair inside the Jedi council room. His position was near the back end of the circle that made up the twelve seats for each Jedi council member. He had been named the youngest member on the current council, at the age of 34, only a half year ago. He may not have been on the council long but he was already viewed as one of the wisest members on the council, at least by some of the Jedi knights. The rest of the council however, viewed him as problematic. While the rest of the council seemed to favor more brash and more forward tactics, Zade favored more thought out and peaceful tactics. By many Jedi, Zade was viewed as the true Jedi Master on the council... yet he was often left out and discarded in most discussions... such as the one today.

He was human, male, with a slender but athletic build. When he stood he reached about 1.8 meters in height. His skin tone was dark and his black hair was tied back into short dreadlocks. Unlike his fellow Jedi master who wore gray robes with dark red trim, Zade wore dark blue robes with black clothing underneath. He liked standing out amongst the other Masters because he differed with them on nearly every matter. Why not look the part?

The council sat in their seats as they watched a holo-image of a chalactan, a human like species, Jedi Master Borru. Master Borru was currently leading a troop of republican soldiers into a space battle with a Sith armada. He contacted the council asking them for their orders, "Our forces outnumber the Sith nearly two-to-one. However, their armada is located just outside the planet Hypori. If we engage them in battle innocent lives could be lost. The Republic general is telling my unit to join their forces and fight the Sith. The force is warning me against it though."

Master Klypso nodded her head, "Yes, we must pursue the Sith at all costs, Master Borru. Innocent lives may be lost but even more will be prevented if we can destroy this armada."

Master Borru took a deep breath and shook his head, "I feel that this is not a wise course of action."

Zade leaned forward in his seat, "Hmm... I also feel uneasy about this. Perhaps you should withdraw your unit-"

"Master Rad'hyth, surely you don't suggest leaving the Republic to face the Sith alone." Master Cled Amousous, third chair, said.

Zade looked over at him, "No. I'm suggesting that we tell the Republic to withdraw from their attack all together. Master Borru seems to be uneasy about this, as do I. You all must feel the same."

Master Klypso ignored Zade's suggestions, "Master Borru, engage the Sith. They must be eliminated."

Borru's hologram remained silent and motionless before he nodded his head, "Very well. I'll command my unit to engage the Sith..."

His image fizzled away into static as he disconnected the holo-message. When his image vanished completely Master Klypso looked over to Zade, "Master Rad'hyth, as always your opinion is appreciated but you must realise that the Sith must be stoped at all costs."

Zade curled his upper lip at the tone his name, Master Rad'hyth, kept receiving. Zade just shook his head and sighed, "At all costs? At the cost of innocent life and fallen Jedi? Are we knights for the people or for the republic?"

Master Klypso clenched her jaw and looked toward the rest of the council, "Today's meeting is dismissed." The other council members stood up, "Master Rad'hyth, would you please stay. I'd like to have a talk with you."

Zade rolled his eyes as he sat back down into his chair. It felt like his days back when he was a youngling. Doing something wrong and having to wait behind as the rest of the class was dismissed. Zade and Klypso waited in silence as every other member of the council left the council room. Cled Amousous walked passed Zade with a wide grin on his face. Zade took a deep breath and tried to exhale his frustrations away, to no avail. When the room was empty save the two, Klypso looked over to Zade from her chair, "Master Rad'hyth, perhaps you were just too young to join the council. Perhaps you'd like to resign?"

Zade shook his head and smirked, "No. I'm fine. Perhaps you are getting too old. Perhaps you would like to resign?"

Klypso stood up from her chair and walked over to him, "Master Rad'hyth, what can I do to help you understand that the Jedi order's top priority is to destroy the Sith?"

Zade stood up from his chair met her face to face, "It's not the aspect of destroying the Sith that bothers me. It's the military like manners that's permeated itself into the order. It's no secret that the Republic has manipulated the council to fit their own plans. In fact my place on the council is the only one that was decided upon Jedi vote and not Republic influence. The Republic has the order wrapped around its finger. If you can provide me with one good reason why this is a good thing I'll listen. If you can't then I'll remain speaking my mind on the council."

"Do you truly believe that we do not know what is best for the order?" Klypso avoided Zade's request.

Zade held his chin high as he looked down at the shorter Jedi Master, "Not only do I not believe in the council's overall judgment but I don't even believe in the council's sensitivity to the force anymore. Master Borru and I both felt danger in this afternoon's meeting yet no other Master seemed to relay any of the same warnings. I think you have all become so spoiled and your ego's have been so stroked by the Republic you no longer feel the need to listen to the force. You don't even act on your own anymore! You only listen to the Republic! You are not Jedi, you are military commanders!"

Klypso stared into Zade's eye for what seemed like to Zade an hour before she turned around and walked from the council room without another word. Zade took a deep breath and slumped back into his seat. He felt things were only going to get worse from here. Before it was just an uneasy tension between him and the council... now he felt as if he was an outright enemy to them. Zade knew he'd have to keep eye on the council's actions just as he knew they'd be keeping an even closer eye on him.

Outside the cafeteria in the Jedi Temple there was a large lobby with statues of fallen Jedi knights placed in rows on each side of the lobby and ivory colored pillars placed in between each statue. Zade leaned against one of these pillars rubbing his heads with the palm of his hands. The door to the cafeteria opened as a Jedi Master and two padawans exited the cafeteria into the lobby. The Jedi Master was Sarval-Styr, the Klatooinian Jedi Master that once sat in the same seat in the council that Zade now occupied. Sarval was joking around with the padawans until he noticed Zade. He patted the padawans on the back, "Take care with you're final trials and may the force be with you."

Sarval walked over to Zade with a chuckle, "You look as if you're having a bad day, Master Rad'hyth."

Zade put his hand up to Sarval, "Please... I've grown to hate my own title, Master Rad'hyth... Master Rad'hyth... Just call me Zade."

Sarval laughed, "Trouble on the council my young Jedi Master?"

Zade rested his head back against the pillar as he looked at Sarval with an exhausted look on his face, "My head is killing me! I can't concentrate on healing myself because of the constant stress from the council is clouding my mind. I may be losing my mind."

Sarval reached over and placed his hand on Zade's shoulder, "I understand what you're going through Master R-uhh... Zade."

"How did you deal with it, Master Sarval-Styr?" Zade asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well... my term as council member expired. That's how I coped. Now I just have to... hold my life in their judgment. Which should frighten me more than it actually dose."

Zade sighed, "So, what time exactly did the council loose it mind?"

Sarval had to think about it for awhile, "A while ago. By the time I was accepted into the council the Republic had already influenced half the council. It was sort of an us-versus-them mentality which goes against everything the Jedi stand for. It really came down to the Jedi who fallow the traditions and those who manipulate the traditions to fit their own will... You know it wasn't really brought out that it was a war among the users of traditions until six years ago."

Zade sat a bit forward with peeked intrest, "Six years ago? When Darth Vultous was slain?"

"No" Sarval said, "Shortly after that. When padawan Laan came before the council he accused the council and the traditions itself to be flawed. He said the faulty traditions were an easy area for the Sith to target. I don't think he realized at the time that is was the Jedi themselves that were targeting the old traditions. Shorlty after that we were the ones that realized that fact though. Laan sort of brought our attention to something that deep down inside, we all knew."

Zade slumped back against the pillar and thought to himself for awhile before he started laughing, "Ha ha! Laan. I remember back when I had just passed my trials and became a Jedi knight. My first mission as a Jedi knihgt I was teamed with Master Tal and his padawan, Laan. We were sent to the Corellian star system to find a hidden Sith stronghold. Turns out it wasn't the Sith but rather a group of impersonators pretending to be the Sith. Laan, still just a teenager, was first to discover this and when he found the group of imposters, without us, he beat them and hung them upside down from the top of their stronghold with some tree vines. He kept them hanging there until Master Tal and I arrived. Master Tal scolded Laan for going on ahead of us but we both laughed about it later when Laan wasn't around."

Master Sarval joined in Zade's laughter, "He was quite the character... very apt in the ways of the force too."

Zade stopped laughing and sighed, "To be honest... if I wasn't away from the temple at the time Laan had his vision... I probably would have joined him in his fight against Darth Vultous. Hmm... I wonder what ever became of him."

"He contacted me a few years ago. He had tried his hand at bounty hunting for awhile but couldn't stand doing dirty work for even dirtier people. That's the last of what I know." Sarval said.

Zade stood up from his lean against the pillar and shook his head, "Things have truly gotten out of control. I foresee this turning into a war within the Jedi order."

Sarval's face turned stone cold serious, "I believe... it already has. The only thing that has yet to happen is mutiney."

Zade lowered his head and shook his head at the thought, "Has such a thing ever happened in the order?"

Sarval took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Once before. Many, many years ago. It was almost the end of the Jedi..."

Zade crossed his arms over his shoulders and was about to say something when a female Nikto Jedi Master, Zummi Quint hurried over to them. Nikto are a humanoid species with tan, leathery skin and flat faces with multiple breathing holes on their cheeks and jawbones. At least four small horns protrude from the Nikto's forehead. She gave a quick bow to each of them before she put her hands on her hip and sighed, "I just received news that Master Borru and his entire unit have been destroyed."

(Note: Here is an example of what a nikto looks like: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/nikto/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

Zade uncrossed his arms and dropped his jaw, "Destroyed? The enitre unit?"

"Not just the Jedi unit but the Republic unit as well. Not only that but a giant scar has been left on the planet Hypori's surface." She added.

"Hypori?!" Zade looked over to Master Sarval-Styr, "That's where Master Borru's unit engaged a Sith armada. Only the Sith armada was less than half in number that the Republic's was. How could they all be destroyed?"

Sarval had a somber look on his face and in his tone of voice, "This is quite a tragedy."

Zade closed his eyes and tried to concentrate everything his mind could handle on the situation. He tired to search the wide radius of the force for any traces of the battle near Hypori. Some wise Jedi of old could concentrate on battles that had already passed, no matter how far away they were and still able be to relive moments of the battle. Zade was trying to do the same. Master Sarval and Master Quint watched Zade as he reached out to the force. Zade kept concentrating until a small, blurry image appeared in his mind. The image was of the Republic warships fighting the Sith warships in space as the planet of Hypori floated in the image's backdrop and gave of an ominous red glow across the battle. Laser fire flew back and fourth between battle ships as smaller fighters engaged in dogfights between the larger warships. Zade could just barley meke out a Jedi starfighter, Master Borru, and only moments later a large beam of light ripped through his vision and thought the republic forces. This violently threw his mind back into the present.

Zade screamed and covered his eyes as if the beam of light was right in front of him. Sarval had to grab Zade before he fell backwards into one of the statues in the lobby. Master Quint looked at Zade with amazement, "What did you see?"

Zade was gasping for air. He had to wait until he caught his breath before he could respond, "I-I'm not sure. Something destroyed the Republic armada with one shot... but I couldn't see what caused it."

Sarval had a slight smirk on his face, "Zade, I don't think I've personally seen anything like that before in my lifetime."

Zade lowered his eyebrows and clenched his fists, "I knew it! Master Borru and I both told the council that we had terrible feelings about engaging the Sith armada but they didn't listen. Instead they listened to the Republic commanding officers!"

Sarval and Quint both looked upset when Zade told them of this. Master Sarval looked over to Quint, "This is going too far. Something will have to be done..."

It was the day after Master Borru and the Republic armada was destroyed. Zade had told the rest of the council about his vision the night before and as a result a meeting was called for noon the next day, which was now today. Zade walked into the council room and saw the other eleven council members had already arrived early and started the meeting without him. He frowned as he took his seat, "I was told to meet at noon."

Master Klypso shrugged her shoulders, "Forgive us. The other eleven members all arrived early so we decided to start things."

Considering the meeting was about his vision, Zade didn't understand how this, "early meeting" could be more than an accident. This was premeditated. They wanted to talk about something with out his knowing. It didn't take long for him to find out what that was. Master Klypso looked over in Zade's direction as soon as he sat down in his chair, "Master Rad'hyth," again with the foul tone to his name, "the council has been discussing what happened to Master Borru and you're vision after the fact."

"Also we've been discussing you're foresight into the matter. You felt a warning before the battle even took place." Master Amousous added. Zade was surprised, they were actually acknowledged his warning before the battle took place yesterday. Could they actually be leading up to an apology? He seriously doubted it.

"You're vision has added a major question to an already difficult problem. What caused this slaughter?" Klypso asked rhetorically.

Zade rubbed his chin as he thought about it, "We should begin an investigation."

Master Klypso smiled, "Yes, we agree. In fact that is what we were discussing before you arrived."

"Sooo..." Zade said skeptically, "What have you gone over so far?"

"We've decided to send a Jedi to Hyproi and check things out. We want them to leave immediately." Master Klypso answered.

"Immediately?" Zade repeated, "But if they leave now they could run into the remains of the Sith armada... or even the cause of the Republic unit's destruction.. It could be dangerous."

"That is why we are only sending one Jedi. A small fighter should be able to... weave through any remaining Sith ships and avoid them. Hopefully the cause of the destruction is still there and we can find out what happened." Master Klypso told Zade.

"I understand... it still seems risky though. What Jedi would-" Zade suddenly realized what was happening. Why they began the meeting without him. Zade for the first time in years felt legitimate anger. He stood up from his seat and stared each and every council member in the eyes before facing Klypso, "You want me to do the investigation?"

Klypso smiled, "You are one of the best pilots in the order. If anyone can avoid the Sith, it is you. Besides you seem to have more foresight than any of us." She then looked at Zade with an arrogant look in her eyes, "After all, we are all so distant from the force, almost as if we were nothing but Republic commanders."

Betrayal! Zade was given this mission not just as a way to rid him from the council for a little while, or if the Sith catch him, forever, but he was given this mission as revenge for his words aginst the council earlier. Zade walked over to Klypso's seat and gazed daggers down at her, "Very well, I'll take this mission. Only because you're words about me being one of the best pilots is true but do not get me wrong.. You're actions are cowardly and vindictive. Things will not got any easier for you even if I die. But if I survive though, you can guarantee things will be brought back into the light. Allow me to repeat you're words, no matter what the cost." He turned his back to them and started walking toward the exit. Before he left he looked back over his shoulder and shot back at her, "Farewell for now, Master Klypso."

\-V-/

It was cold and dark inside this large tunnel. The tunnel was completely manmade of a thick, heavily insulated, gray metal. There were two sets of railed tracks that carried train-like-transports across the tunnels on one side of the tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel was a large platform. At one end of that platform was a silver, bullet shaped train. On the opposite side of the platform was a large, black, sliding door built into the side of the tunnel.

A group of a half dozen unique looking characters stood in a line in front of the large doors. Standing around the group were the ominous looking Sith Troopers. Each trooper stood up straight as they faced the doors. The unique group of characters stood in anticipation for those doors to open. Moments of waiting later the doors started to open. A white light peeked through the doors, blinding the line of characters. The only thing visible was the silhouette of a clocked figure. The figure stepped from the light into the tunnel as the doors closed behind him. The figure was tall and well built. Through his black cloak his broad figure was well defined. The figure walked over to one of the troopers are removed it's cloak revealing his face. He was Quarren, an alien species. They had squid like heads, donning the rude nickname, "Squid head". Quarren's heads are characterized by the four tentacles that protrude from their jaws. They have deep turquoise eyes, and each hand is capped with finned or suction-cup tipped fingers. This Quarren was a frightening individual. His name, Bast Zephyrus, a Sith.

(note: Quarren: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/quarren/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

The Quarren stood before the group and began speaking in the common language, though with a very thick and hard to understand accent, "Do any ov' you uuunderstand what lay beyond thosssse doors?" Bast pointed to the doors with a finned finger, "Beyond thossse doors lay the pathway to the Sith. The pathway to the dark ssside! 'Veel (feel) it! The dark side v'lows (flows) throughhh this planet'sss veins! Hyarsythe academy hasss trained some of the greatest Lordsss in the history of the SSSith. Do any ov' you believe that you can sooomeday become one ov' those Dark Lords? Iv' not, then youuu don't belong here. The only goal ov' the Sith is to use the dark side of the v'orce (force) to become the true Daaark Lord and lead the Sith into victory over the Republic and the Jedi. Thisss must be something that you give you're whole selv to. You willll not be shown mercy. Youuu will live and die as a Sith!"

Nobody in the line flinched. They allready knew there was no turning back. They were told of the academy's hidden location and if they suddenly decided to turn back, they'd be killed. Bast walked closer to the line, "You have alllll been accepted to Hyarsythe academy becaussse you have great v'orce potential. More than most studentsss. That is why you stand be'vore (before), Hyarsythe academy. One ov' the greatest Sith academiesss in the galaxy. You shalllll not v'ail (fail) the Sith's... trust... in you or else you will suvver (suffer). The price v'or v'ailure is suvvering!"

(Note:I hope Bast's accent isn't too annoying or hard to understand. I hope not.)

A Sith trooper walked up next to Bast with a holo-board in his hand. On the board was a list of each individual in line. Bast took the board from the trooper and walked to the right end of the line, "I shall v'eel you're presssence in the v'orce. Most ov' you have aaalready been recommended for Hyarsythe by a Sith but I v'irst (first) must test to sssee how strong you truly arrre."

He placed his hand above the first potential student's forehead. This student was an alien type species and had a very large forehead that reached all the way to the back of her head. Bast concentrated on the student and started humming to himself. Moments later he pulled his hand away from her, "Muuuch anger I v'eel in you. You're power is lacking buuut great potential I v'eel in you."

He pounded something into the board, checking this student off as accepted. He stepped over to the next person in line. This student was a male human. This human looked as if they had once been a slave. Ragged clothing, scars over his body, scrawny build, long unkempt hair. Bast placed his hand above his forehead and repeated the process, "V'ear! (fear) Youuu are av'raid (afraid) to enter Hyarsythe academy. You are av'raid o'v deathhh. Here youuu will be taught to harness that v'ear into anger, and anger into powwwer."

He made his way down to the next potential student. This student was the largest of the six. Both in height and in mass. This one wore a white hood over their head masking their face. Bast placed his head under their hood and on to their forehead. He repeated the same exact process as the past two students. This time Bast took a step back, "Powerv'ul, very powerv'ul. A harnessed powwwer. A powerrr not untamed as the other students arrre. You're emotionsss are calm and trained. Whether or not thisss is good or bad... we have yet to dissscover. However... I dooo sense great potential in you. More than any other student I havvve yet to meet. I will be watching your progressss closely-" Bast looked down at the holo-board for the student's name, "-Ceddes."

The student removed his hood revealing his face to Bast. His long black hair fell down across his face casting eerie looking shadows across his face. He took a slight bow forward toward Bast. As he bowed forward his silver necklace of a wolf fell forward causing a light to reflect in Bast's eyes, "I will live for the Sith..." He looked up and stared Bast in the turquoise eyes and cocked a smile, "and I swear on the name of Ceddes Nemea that I will die for the Sith."

Bast chuckled to himself as he went on to the next student. He had accepted Ceddes, Ceddes Nemea. He had accepted me. I was now a part of Hyarsythe and the Sith. I would train in the ways of the Sith and the dark side. I would become a Sith... and in doing so... I will destroy them...


	4. Chapter 5: Regrets

What made me think I could do this?! What sort of idiot am I? I sat at the foot of my bed inside my room, my new room inside Hyarsythe academy. The room was small and made for only one person to live in. The interior was sorta grungy metal... everywhere. The walls, floor, ceiling, furniture, the washroom, all of it metal. The only thing that wasn't metal was the padding on the bed and the blankets on said bed.. It was standard for every new Sith recruit, or neophyte as they liked to call it... which I guess I am now. As I sat at my bed I replayed in my mind how I got here. How things came to this. How I must have lost my mind!

I left Lanoul in the Sith ship headed straight for Apsus. At the time I had no idea what I'd find there. I was hoping to find Hyarsythe or at least some type of Sith base. My intention, as foolish as it sounds, was to infiltrate the Sith academy or base, become one of them, and act as a spy. Find any information I could use against them. Just a small piece of vital information. That one string that unravels the sweater. Even if it resulted in me contacting the Republic if I had to. Though I'm still not sure if I can trust them to any extent with any information.

When I arrived at Apsus I instantly noticed the planet's surface. About 85 of the planet was ocean. The only land mass on Apsus were giant glaciers near the northern and southern poles. I wondered where they would keep a base, if they even had any, on a planet like this. I figured they could put one either on a glacier, a man made island, or underwater. Either way I'd imagine it would be pretty cold.

On my way to Apsus I thought about what my first course of action was going to be, how I'd be able to get myself to be accepted into the Sith. I had an idea on how to start when I thought about the unit that originally occupied this transport and how if there really was any Sith base on Apsus they might respond to a distress beacon from an ally ship. A distress beacon is basically a signal for help sent from a sender to any receiver within a certain radius of the sender.

It was worth a shot so I hit a button that sent a distress beacon to any ship or base around Apsus. I waited for awhile before I heard a slight humming sound from the control panel. I saw a flashing light, I assumed it was a message in response to my beacon so I hit the button. I heard an alien type voice coming through the ship's speaker, "This is Aqua Lung. Aqua Lung to ship number, 53-V2N-Q7. Do you require assistance?"

Aqua Lung must have been the code name for some base or ship. I assumed it was Sith because nobody would be able to access this ship's identity number, number 53-V2N-Q7. I took a deep breath as I got into character and exhaled as I prepared to lie my way through a proverbial minefield, "This is Sith seeker. My unit had been destroyed, including my pilot. Requesting landing assistance."

There was a long pause before the voice responded, "Speak the password and we'll bring your ship in, seeker."

DAMMIT! I never expected a password! I should have. I couldn't believe how little I thought this through. I sat there with my jaw dropped as I raced through things to respond with in my mind. I gritted my teeth as I said the only thing that sounded remotely reasonable, "Umm... my commanding officer knew of the password and was killed."

I sounded like an idiot and I was. The voice shouted, which sounded like a gurgle, back at me, "Who is this?!"

Okay, quick character change. I'd have to start mixing the truth, allot of guesses, and total bantha crap if I wanted this to work. I forced a dark laugh into the receiver, "Oh well... Guess I'm busted. I'm the one that destroyed you're precious seeker unit (true). After I ripped their bodies apart (lie), I hacked into the ship's databanks (true) and found out everything about you (partly true). Who you are (true), what you're doing (maybe true), and why you are doing it (maybe true) and if you don't want the Republic to know about it (bantha crap)... you'll put me in contact with you're commander."

The alien voice on the other end paused again before he responded, "...and what is it that you know?"

Okay here is where I'd have to make a large leap of faith and make a major guess. In character I chuckled, "One word, junior, Hyarsythe."

A new voice sounded from the speaker, this voice was much darker but calm than the last guy, "Oh... well, why don't you tell me why I just don't blow you're ship from the sky?"

"Fair enough," it was now time for the bantha crap part, "The only reason why you shouldn't kill me is because... you need me. It wasn't coincidence that I killed you're entire seeker unit in mere seconds... though they were rather week. Anyways... to my knowledge Hyarsythe is a Sith academy for those sensitive to the force."

"What if it is?" The dark voice asked.

"The Sith will do itself a favor by accepting me to Hyarsythe." I said in a cocky tone, I was already starting to feel a little sick of myself. I was a tool.

I heard the dark voice chortle before he responded, "Well is that so? Guess I should just welcome you to Hyarsythe with open arms just because you took out a few useless failures?" His voice started sounding angry and icy cold, "Do you think you can just arrive at Hyarsythe with some attitude and get accepted?"

"How about you, junior? You sound like you're quite sure of yourself. I'll show you exactly what I am capable of, personally. One-on-one in old fashion Sith style rules. You, as the challenged win and I'm dead. If I as the challenger win, I'm the newest personality in Hyarsythe."

The voice responded with a whimsical tone, "Very well."

Suddenly the ship jerked itself out of my controls. They must have hacked into the ship's controls and were now steering my ship to their location. All I could do was sit in my chair and watch the ocean getting closer and closer. I got close enough to the Apsus water to make out individual waves. They were huge. Some reached over sixteen meters in height. I fallowed along these waves for awhile. After a few minuets of traveling parallel to the ocean surface I could make out a giant, black and slate colored tower over the horizon. At first it only appeared as a long pole in the distance but as I got closer I could tell how big it was. The tower stuck out well over one hundred meters above the waves and at the time I had no idea how far the base of the tower really went beneath the waters. The tower itself was set diagonally into the oceans. A bubble shaped dome was placed on top of the tower. It vaguely of reminded my of Soundy-Dail's port, only smaller and it was slate colored.

They eventually flew my ship into the dome through a large, square opening in the side of the bubble. Inside of the bubble was a hanger. Transport ships, resembling the one I was in, were placed in rows through out the hanger as well as various types of Sith starfighters. The interior of the port was black and gray. Standing it the center of the port was a platoon of Sith troopers and one Dug in black padded armor. Dugs are a unique species. They are slender, powerfully-built beings with a somewhat humanoid build and a unique method of walking. Their strong arms are used as legs, and their lower limbs are used as arms. Dugs have smooth skin, which hangs loose and pouchy around their necks, fin-like ears, and pronounced snouts. This dug in particular had a heavily tattooed body. Broad black tattoos with orange slash like marks tattooed on his long, slender, neck, arms, face, and legs.

(note: Dug example, /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/dug/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

My ship slowly hovered in front of them before it slowly rested itself down onto the ground. I rubbed the tension in the back of my neck as I stood from my chair. I walked to the back of my ship and opened the back hatch causing the ramp to lower itself. The first thing that hit me when the door opened was the cold. The dome was insulated and protected from the harsh chill from outside but some of the cold still managed to find its way into the dome. It didn't help that I was still dressed in Lanoul clothing and spent the last six months living on a desert planet. I did my best to shrug the cold away as I walked down the ramp. When I reached the bottom of the ramp I turned around and started walking toward the heavily armed Sith battalion that was waiting for me. As I walked toward them the dug made his way toward me, walking on his hands. We both adopted a grin on ours faces when we met just in front of the Sith transport. I put my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side, "I assume you're the guy I talked too."

He flipped his body around so that he now stood on his actual legs and gave me a slight shove in the chest with his arms... which were sort of his legs. I stood my ground as he shoved me. He laughed as he flipped back toward his usual stance which was him standing on his arms, "Ehh? Seems I've underestimated you. You're stronger than I expected and I can sense great power emanating from you."

I looked down at the shorter alien, "Hmm... you must be a Sith Master... or at least a Knight."

The dug looked me over and rubbed his chin with his leg/arm, "Hmm... You are in the presence of Master Ollose Vedalt'e."

Ollose Vedalt'e. I knew the name from my old Master, Rexsis Tal. Master Tal was once assigned to eliminate Vedalt'e but the crafty dug set a trap for Rexsis that almost cost him his life. Master Tal told me Vedalt'e was a master with a lightsaber and very good at manipulation. He may not have been the more cliched, angry and spiteful Sith but he knew how to play with people's minds. I'd have to respect his abilities. I bowed my head toward him, "Master Vedalt'e. I have heard much of you're abilities with a lightsaber..."

Ollose snickered to himself, "Ahh... and you do realize that you challenged a Sith Master don't you."

I summoned the lightsaber from my pocket into my hands. I ignited the blade and went into my usual dueling stance. I'd turn my body so I was standing sideways from my opponent. I'd raise my lightsaber with one hand and point the tip of the blade at my opponent so that my shoulders, arm, and lightsaber would all be one solid line. It was my starting stance meant for evasion more than anything else. I grinned at Ollose, "I realize I'm in for a challenge but this isn't my first dance with a demon."

He laughed as he removed a small lightsaber handle from his side. He twirled the handle in one of his leg/arms before igniting the crimson blade. He juggled his lightsaber between hands as if he was impressing me or something. I scoffed as I looked past him toward his troopers, "They won't be assisting you will they?"

He growled at me, "Their help, I need not!"

He leapt at me while he quickly began spinning in midair. He looked like a spinning ball of limbs and crimson lightsaber as he flew over the top of my head while he thrusted the tip of his blade at my head. I had to quickly roll forward so my skull wasn't pierced by his blade. He hit the ground and quickly bounced off his feat right at me. I had just barley recovered from my evasive roll when I had to quickly slash my saber, blindly, behind me to block his attack. He laughed as he bounced backward to regain himself. He was a quick, little, bouncy thing. A very unorthodox and dangerous style.

After he regained himself he jumped at me for a third strike against me. I knew I was no match for him with a lightsaber, I was fast but not fast enough. I closed my eyes while he was in the air and stretched my hand toward him. I was ready to unleash a self taught attack of mine that I called the Force Point. It was an evolution from the force push. Rather than a wide powerful push. I concentrated an equal amount of power into a single pinpoint location of the opponents body. It was like an extremely powerful pinpoint punch to the body, hence Force Point. Neither the Jedi or the Sith taught anything like the Force Point and being freed from either of their teachings I was able to teach it to myself.

The Force Point is powerful and unique and I was hoping to catch him off guard with the unknown attack but he must have sensed some sort of attack coming. While in the mid air he pointed one of his free hands toward the ground and force pushed himself further into the air and away from my attack. My attack may have missed but it forced him to break his attack.

He looked at me with a curious gleam in his eyes. He switched off his lightsaber and stared walking toward me. I kept my lightsaber pointed at him. He may have unarmed himself but never trust a Sith. He motioned for me to switch off my lightsaber. Again, never trust a Sith. So I kept my blade pointed at him. He started laughing again, "Smart, kid. Don't trust anyone! But listen, if we continue this fight I'll probably end up killing you, maybe not. But I don't want to take the risk. You've done something nobody in your position has yet to do. Impress me. I can feel your sensitivity to the force and it's immense. You could use some work with your lightsaber skills but your knowledge of the force is far beyond any minion! Not to mention that attack of yours. I have no idea what that was but I don't want to be on the receiving end."

I decided he was as sincere as a Sith could get and switched my blade off. As I slid the handle back into my pocket I looked down at Vedalt'e, "So, dose that mean I'm in?"

He shook one of his fingers at me, "No!... But you are one step closer. Hyarsythe is one of the top academies under control of the Sith. Not just anybody is accepted. Your first step is a recommendation from a Sith Knight or Master. You got mine. Next step is easy. You just stand there while you get evaluated by another Sith Master. If you pass you move on to the final stage... which isn't quite as easy. Keep in mind though, since Hyarsythe is top secret you won't be able to leave until you've reached the rank of Knight. If you fail at any moment you won't be kicked out... you'll be killed. So there is no going back! You're in it for the long run, kid!"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I killed a Sith unit, stole a Sith transport, and challenged a Sith Master. You don't need to tell me."

He laughed and slapped me on the back, "Kid, you need to learn some respect. Not all Sith are as kindhearted as I am."

Right, kindhearted. I didn't doubt for a second he was just as cruel and maniacal as the rest. This kindness was only part of his master manipulation. Pretend to be friends now only to stab you in the back later. He said it himself, don't trust anyone. I just smiled and continued playing the role of jackass, "Well, I'm not as kindhearted as I may seem."

"Fallow me, kid." He pointed to the troopers and shouted, "Back to work!"

I fallowed him across the port until we reached a small office like room. He pointed to a small metal stool and motioned for me to sit down. So I did. I sat there as walked over to a stainless steel desk. He got something from one of his drawers and walked over to me, "Stretch out your hand."

I did as he said. He grabbed my arm by the wrist and pulled my hand close to him. He pulled out a dagger from his belt with his free hand and sliced the blade across my palm. I winced as blood started dripping from my hand but I didn't complain. He took out a small device that he got from his drawer. It was a small sphere with a little swab protruding from it. He took the swab and wiped it in my blood, "I just have to check to make sure you don't carry any infectious diseases. We don't want our students wiped out from a plague now do we?"

He walked over to the desk and plugged the device into a computer built into the desk. He picked up a cloth and small bacta pack then tossed it to me, "Don't bleed all over my stuff."

I opened the bacta pack and put the healing bacta gel on my wound. I then wrapped the cloth around my hand to help the bleeding. As Ollose was downloading the information from the sphere like device into the computer he eyed me, "You need a change of cloths. You'll freeze to death here." He hit a button on his desk and spoke into a speaker, "Bring me a change of cloths, large size."

"Thanks... or whatever." I said without much emotion.

He didn't respond. He just looked at the holo-screen of his computer in confusion. He looked at me and back at the screen. I chuckled when he realized his story about checking me for diseases was fake. He was really checking my data records, "If you're trying to access my data records I've deleted them from existence, years ago. I don't exist."

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "Ehh, worth a shot. Anyways, that's perfect. You don't exist, nor dose Hyarsythe. Got it?"

"Got it." I responded, "So what's next?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well the next train isn't headed down to Hyarsythe until tomorrow. You'll be going down with a few other potential accepties. There you'll meat an unpleasant Quarren for your second task."

"Ahem. Going down?" I asked.

"You didn't know? Hmph. Hyarsythe is located in the sunken city." He told me.

I rubbed the back of my head, "Heh, umm... Pardon the ignorance but what's the sunken city. I assume its sunken..."

He sat down in his nice cushioned chair behind his desk and sighed, "Well, I got nothing better to do. So, you know about the Sith Lords of old and how powerful they were?"

That I did. Some Sith Lords of old could generate twisters powerful enough to destroy cities. Sith lore even tells of one Sith Lord powerful enough in the dark side to cause two planets to collide together, destroying them. How much of that was true and how much was fable I am unaware but it was just one of many reasons to fear the Sith. I just nodded my head, "Yes, I'm aware."

"Well," He started, "many millennia ago Apsus had a single content. A Sith Lord is said to have used the dark side to drag the continent into the cold and unforgiving Apsus ocean. The native species of Apsus were wiped out. The only thing that remains of old Apsus is the ruins of a city underwater. The ruins are miles under water. Hyarsythe is in the ruins. Its a giant, submerged base."

"Why there?" I asked.

"Do you know what Sithrimi is?" He asked.

A shudder ran through my spine at the mention of the word. Sithrimi was a word from ancient Sith tongue. It was one of many terms for the phenomena of dark side amplification. A theory of Sithrimi was that when ancient Sith Lords performed ultimate and dark acts such as sink a continent, they used so much dark power that remnants of that dark power forever remained in the area of the act. These areas are dangerous places. They amplify dark powers. Worse yet is they amplify negative emotions, such as anger. I figured Hyarsythe would be built in a Sithrimi but I really hoped it wouldn't. It was going to make my mission that much harder and the dark side that much more appealing. Again I nodded to him, "Yes."

"Hyarsythe was constructed in a Sithrimi. A Sithrimi located in the ruins of the sunken city. The only way to get there is by a train that goes from this base to Hyarsythe. There are two trains that come and go only once a day, each. The reason being is because the trains have to move slowly when they descend or ascend down into the water. Otherwise the water pressure will be too much and you'll get air in you're blood... that equals death, kid. Don't worry though. Hyarsythe itself is well pressurized. It'll be just like normal only you'll be inside of it all the time. Which is a good thing because if the water pressure won't get you the fish will. Giants! That's why this base is so high above sea level. The biggest creature that comes to the surface has tentacles nearly 80 meters in length. That's just the ones that come to the surface. Some near the bottom are over a thousand meters in length."

Well... that wasn't at all comforting. I was trying to sneak into a Sithrimi zone, miles underwater, with giant fish surrounding it. What had I got myself into? I don't know how death couldn't be in my immediate future. I'd take death over joining the dark side any day though. I shook my head, "Oh well. Guess it's all part of the job description, eh?"

He smiled, "You got it. Believe me, this won't be fun. Being a Sith isn't about fun. It's about power, about supremacy. Got it?"

I nodded, "Got it."

--

I had time to kill since the next train for Hyarsythe didn't leave until early tomorrow. I was hoping I'd be able to check around the bubble dome in hopes I'd find that string that would unravel the sweater here. If I found something here I wouldn't have to go to Hyarsythe. Unfortunately, Vedalt'e had other plans for me. Rather than roaming around the port he decided to give me some early training. First I changed my clothing from the light weight Soundy-Dail clothing to a black, heavily clothed, full body suit and a white scarf with a hood attached to it. After I changed, Vedalt'e took me to the center of the station in the same spot we had our previous duel. He removed his lightsaber and ignited the blade, "You know, if you do make into the academy, I'll be you're teacher of lightsaber skills and battle tactics."

"Oh, really?" I raised an eyebrow, "Then I guess I should feel honored to get such an advanced lesson. It'll give me that much more of an advantage on the other students."

"Exactly, kid." He grinned, "I see great potential in you. You could do great things for the Sith. That is why I'm helping you more than anyone else. There are no equal opportunities in the Sith. Only those who survive and succeed and those who are nothing but waste. You will be a survivor."

I could see why Ollose was such a great manipulator. I knew he was just using me as a future pawn but even I couldn't help but like the guy. He seemed friendly and on your side in the beginning. It's well known to even non-Sith that there is a constant tension and uneasiness amongst the Sith leaders. Though they may be in the same alliance they are also in competition amongst themselves. One way was, Master Tal told me, that the Sith like to use students in their constant competition. The Sith would unofficially take a sort of apprentice, a personal student. In reality they were just manipulating that student to help raise themselves up in ranks of the Sith. I wasn't exactly sure how they would manipulate the student but I had a feeling that was what Vedalt'e was doing to me. Perhaps though, I could actually find a way to manipulate him in the future.

I couldn't think about that at that moment though. Sith or not I could use some lightsaber training. I was pretty good with a saber back at the temple but I was outcast before I reached my full potential. I ignited my saber and got into my usual battle position. Ollose crossed the blade of his saber across his chest, "This is only training. No direct blows!"

I nodded in agreement, "Very well."

"Let us see how well your strikes are. Come at me, boy!" He said as he twirled his saber in front of him.

I gave him a quick nod before I charged. I ran up to him and went to swipe my saber near his right shoulder. As he moved his blade to block my strike I quickly halted my swipe toward his shoulder. Instead I twirled my saber from his right shoulder over to his left ankle. He was quick to block my new attack with his crimson saber. I pulled my saber away and hit him with a quick flurry of attacks. Our sabers hummed and crackled with each blow. After the flurry of strikes ended, Ollose leapt backward, "All right, not too bad at all. You seem to lack any fighting style though. Without a style you will never be able to beat a well trained fighter. Think about what kind of style you want. Do want an striking style, a defensive style, an evasive one perhaps? Think about that."

A trooper marched over to Ollose and saluted to him, "Sir, we require your attention at the main station."

He switched his saber off and clipped it to his belt, "Later, kid. Hopefully I see you in... class."

All right. If he left maybe I'd get some time to look around the base... but before he left Ollose patted the trooper on the back, "Make sure you keep an eye on the kid. We don't want him getting into trouble."

The trooper nodded his head, "Yes, my lord."

Damn! He was no fool. For the rest of the day I just sat in the corner of the hanger, always with a trooper near keeping his or her eye on me. They made sure I didn't do anything stupid. When it came to night time I sat on the ground with my legs crossed and began a rejuvenating meditation. Meditating was quicker than sleeping and also produced one's body with more energy than sleep. Only a few force users could actually meditate and rejuvenate their bodies. If the Sith saw that I could do it they might think more of my abilities. Plus when you meditate you are aware of your surrounding, unlike sleep. Being in the middle of a Sith nest I wanted to be aware of my surroundings. Can't trust any of them. Plus the wound on my hand from Vedalt'e's cut had completely healed from the meditation.

I meditated until late that night, or actually early in the next morning. I was interrupted when I heard the hanger door slide open. I stood up and saw another sleek, black transport ship fly into the hanger. It landed at the center and dropped it's ramp. I walked over to the female trooper guarding me, "Who is this now?"

She pointed her finger at the riff-raff walking down the ship's ramp, "That would be your competition. Possible future students. Though they didn't make quite the entrance that you did."

I snickered, "I always make a memorable entrance."

There were five of these potential students that arrived. Most looked like they were just picked up along the way. Like one guy that looked to be a slave. Tattered clothing, unkempt hair, scars. I must have been something special, after all, I got a got a fresh change of cloths. The female trooper nudged me in the side, "The train should be arriving soon. You better fallow them."

I did as she suggested and fallowed the group of students to the back of the hanger. Each student was accompanied by a trooper or two. I made eye contact with a hammer-headed Ithorian. He bellowed loudly when I made eye contact. Apparently I wasn't popular with these new students. The troopers seemed to like me just fine. Though most troopers don't deal with the dark side as these students were attempting to do.

(note: Ithorian /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/ithorian/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined)

I fallowed the students, with my eyes trained toward the ground as not to make trouble, until we reached a large sliding door. Standing at the door was Ollose. He had a holo-board (sort of like a clip board) in his hand. He asked us to get into single file line. I was in the back. He went down the line asking each of us for our names and where we come from. When he got to me he asked me my name. Rather than giving him my real name, Laan, I gave him my allies, "Ceddes Nemea." Then he asked me where I come from, I answered, "I have no birthplace. I come from many planets."

Vedalt'e just shrugged his shoulders, "It doesn't really matter. Your data records are all deleted so we can't check any of this anyways."

I smirked. I had no idea that permanently deleting my records would pay off so well. I did it when I tried bounty hunting a few years ago, and failing at it. Any bounty hunter with hacking abilities deleted their records for their own safety. Any bounty hunter without hacking abilities paid some one else to delete them.

After Ollose finished putting our information into the board he was holding, he motioned for us to head to the door. As we walked toward it a trooper hit a button on a wall mounted panel. The button caused the doors to slide open. We walked through the doors into a large, open area. The walls and ceiling were all white. At the opposite end of the room was a large opening that led to a diagonal tunnel that led from the hanger down into the ocean. The floor of the tunnel had two train tracks that carried the trains. The top of the tunnel had a rounded glass window that allowed us to look over the wide open oceans. It was actually a very beautiful sight. The sky was clear today and two of Apsus's sun were out. The suns reflected bright light off the churning ocean waves.

We all stood in the room, waiting, until we heard a screeching sound coming from down the tunnel. I walked over to a platform's ledge to gaze down the tunnel. I saw a silver, bullet shaped train riding the tracks up toward us. I also saw that the tunnel traveled down further than my eyes could see. If I fell I'd tumble down to my death. Who knows how long my corpse would be tumbling down until it reached the bottom. Ollose came over to me and gave my shoulder a quick shove as if he was acting to push me over the ledge. I turned around and glared at him. He just walked away laughing.

The train arrived at the same platform I stood at a few moments later. The train was about fifteen meters in length and was made up of three five-meter-long cars attached together. A door on the first car opened and a trooper stepped out. Ollose handed the trooper the holo-board with our information on it. He then walked back into the hanger without another word. The trooper with the bored walked back into the train and signaled for us to fallow him. I was first into the train. The first thing I noticed was a rounded glass window on the top of the train similar the glass window on the tunnel. I guess we'd get to watch the ocean as we descended. That was sort of interesting. The inside of the train was dark and without much lighting. The only lighting came from a long strip of lights near the upper corners of the train cars. The train's seats were interesting. Each individual seat was built on brackets that were made to move with the train. Right now the train was sitting straight horizontally, so were the seats. When the train went down the diagonal tunnel the seats would move so the passengers would remain horizontal.

The trooper sat down in one of the seats as he read through our information. He motioned for us to take a seat. I sat down in the second to last row. The other students sat near the front. A few troopers and technicians sat down in another car. A few troopers brought a few boxes of cargo onto the train as well. I was basically sitting by myself which was fine with me. I sat there with my eyes closed in a half meditation until the car doors closed. A few minuets later the train started moving forward. I opened my eyes as we went over the drop that took us down the diagonal tunnel. My seat slowly rotated into a horizontal position as we began descending. The train started as a fast pace. I watched out the window as we got closer and closer to the ocean waves. When the train broke past the waves I got a good view of the ocean life in Apsus. There were some large, colorful fish. Some the size of a human adult and by what Ollose told me there were much larger fish out there.

The further we went down the less visible the ocean outside got and the train began slowing down. It slowed down until the train was only descending at about the speed that I could run on land. Not only that but the window on top of the tunnel turned into thick metal so I couldn't watch the ocean life anymore. It didn't matter though. We were already deep enough to where the sun could no longer give the ocean light. With nothing else to do I decide to go back into meditation.

I stayed in meditation for four whole hours. My ears popped long ago and my head was killing me from the pressure. I broke meditation when I asked the trooper, "Dose the headache ever go away?"

He laughed, "Don't worry. Hyarsythe is self pressurized so you don't have to worry about it. The tunnel is what gets you."

I sighed and went back to my meditation. No amount of meditation was going to rid me of this pressurized vice clamped on my skull but I had nothing else to do. I stayed in meditation until I felt my skin start to crawl. A disturbing and perverse presence pierced into my mind like an arrow through the skull. I could feel this sudden and constant suffering. It was without a doubt the Sithrimi. We were getting close to Hyarsythe and the sunken city... The city on the content sunk into the Apsus ocean. I could fear the ancient people's terror as the waves swept them away. Screaming and caterwauling echoed throughout my mind. I had no idea the Sithrimi was like this! I had severely underestimated the reach of the dark side.

I quickly snapped myself out of my meditation. For a few moments I was lost and had no idea where I was. I looked around and saw the inside of the train and remembered my state. The hauntings were gone but a constant chill down my spine remained. Its was uncomfortable but it was much better than those eerie visions were. After a few more minuets the visions never returned. I realized that my was meditation was the cause of these hauntings. I guess I'd have to watch what kind of mediating I did at Hyarsythe.

Moments later I heard the disheveled slave-looking human laughing, "Can you feel that?"

Another student raised his hands in the air, "Its like some untapped power!"

They other students started talking amongst themselves about the Sithrimi. They acted as if they were drunk on power, it was disgusting. I just ignored them and rested my head on the back of my seat. I closed my eyes and just rested, no meditation. About fifteen minuets later I felt the train's speed start to pick up and my seat moved back into a leveled position. I opened my eyes and through the train's ceiling window I could see the tunnel start to illuminate. We must be arriving at Hyarsythe. The further we traveled the more the tunnel started to illuminate. Eventually the train started slowing down. The Ithorian student got from his seat in excitement only to slam into the front of the car when the train came to a complete halt. I couldn't help but giggle just a bit.

When I saw the trooper get up from his seat I figured it was a good time to stand up. Hours of sitting caused my stiff legs and back to pop and crack as I stood up. I stretched my arms out and yawned. Never thought I'd be so excited to arrive at a Sith academy. The doors slid open and the trooper motioned for us to fallow him. I exited the car onto the platform. He told us to get into a line in front of a large black door. That was where we met the Quarren, Bast Zephyrus. That was where Bast checked us six students for our potential. That was where two of the six students, including the Ithorian student, were struck down by Bast for being too weak. They had failed the second test. Bast felt they were too weak to bother with and ended their lives with his saber. Those who survived were welcomed to Hyarsythe though we still had one more challenge to face before we were officially accepted.

Bast motioned for the four surviving students to fallow him. He led us, and us alone, no troopers, past those big black doors. Past those doors we entered into a large, white hallway. At the end of the the hallway... was another large black door. Bast walked over to this next black door and pointed toward me, "You, Ceddes, come."

Well, I wasn't about to say no to the Quarren Sith Lord so I did as he told me. I walked over to his side and, though it sickened me, I bowed my head to the Sith Lord and asked, "Yes, my lord?"

He reached over to a wall mounted control panel and hit a button at the very top of the control panel causing the doors to slide open. I looked inside and saw a large, white and gray, circular room. Bast motioned into the room, "This lift will take you to your final... challenge. All you need to do is survive."

Okay, that sounded rather foreboding. I bowed my head to him as I entered into the lift. As I did the unkempt slave looking student walked up to Bast, "Hey! Why dose he get to go?"

Bast stretched his arm toward the student. Using the powers of the dark side he started choking the kid with an invisible force. The kid grasped for his throat trying to pull the dark side's invisible fingers from his neck. Bast gazed upon the student in disgust, "You will learn your place you insignificant worm!"

Bast released his choke on the student but not before force pushing him into the wall, hard. The doors to the lift closed as I watched the student gasp for air. I stood in the center of the circular room as I felt the room begin to lift upwards. I saw that near the entrance there was a ticker that counted each floor the lift passed. According to the counter I was at the fifth floor when I began to feel an uneasiness in the force. At the seventh floor the lift stopped and the doors opened. What I saw when the doors opened was an unsettling sight. A dark, nearly pitch black room. The only light in the room was all the way across the room where red candles set atop of pedestals were laid around the back of a throne. I heard the voice of a young women call out, "Come, student!"

I had no idea who said that but I listened to her. I stepped from the brightly lit lift into the darkness. The lift's doors closed behind me and I was completely stranded in darkness. The same voice called out, "Walk toward the lights."

I tired to listen to where the voice was coming from but the room had a slight echo so I couldn't track it down. I had no idea how big or small the room was or where I was walking for that matter. All I could do was just walk toward the candles, blindly. The closer I got to the candles the more this lurking shadow of the force seemed to stalk my movements. I hated this place so badly!

When I got into the candlelit area of the room I stood facing the back of a large, black throne. I could only guess who sat at the other end of that throne. I stood there in silence for the longest time. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to talk or not... but I wasn't about speak unless spoken too. Finally the throne started to rotate toward me. I raised an eyebrow in sudden surprise at the throne's movement. As the throne rotated half way I could make out who was sitting in it. A female Sith Lord. She wore a black top and s black robed skirt. She had an ornate headdress made of black plating that allowed her platinum colored hair to fall down in waves. A black veil covered all of her face except for her menacing pearl colored eyes. I wasn't sure what species she was but it wasn't human but was humanoid. Her skin was a pale lilac color. The right side of her body had lines of black dotted tattoos running vertically down her torso. The left side of her body had a line of black, tribal, slash-like tattoos running down her torso and left arm. Clipped to her belt I noticed she had an ebon lightsaber made of black electrum.

When her throne fully rotated toward me she stared at me with her pearl colored eyes. When she stared at me, that looming shadow feeling seemed to grow stronger. I felt compelled to bow my head to her, "Lord Phyress Lokindr, I presume."

She nodded her head toward me, "Yes. I'm surprised you know my name. Not many do."

"I'm somewhat educated in the ways of the Sith but what I know is but a small fraction of knowledge that the Sith can offer." I told her.

Lokindr clasped her hands together, "Oh? What knowledge are you searching for?"

Well I wasn't about to tell her that the knowledge I was searching for was a way to destroy the Sith so I stayed in character, "The knowledge of the dark side."

She chuckled ever so slightly, "The dark side? If you are so well educated, you must know what the term dark side means?"

I was at a lost for words. I just shook my head, "Well... umm... no. I do not."

"The Jedi," She said with disdain in her tone, "in their self-righteous and simplistic view will tell you that they are good, the light, and we are evil, the dark. I do not see it that way."

I raised an eyebrow, "And if I may ask? How do you see it... my master?"

She gazed into my eyes with a great passion, "Darkness is simply the standard way of life. Tell me boy, what would happen to the galaxy if there were no stars, no sun, no sources of light?"

"There would be darkness." I answered.

"Yes." She said as she unclasped her hands and stared gesturing with them as she talked, "Darkness is the true state of the galaxy. Light is only a harsh intruder. It needs a source. It is fragile and weak. So too is the light side. The dark side is the simple state of all life! Anger, greed, lust, all of these things are part of life and to fight these feelings is unnatural. The light side teaches you to turn your back on these emotions and in return you only grow weaker for it. Light is weakness and struggling and darkness is just raw, basic power."

Well, I'm sure that made much more sense in her head. I thought it was insanity. After all the light pierces the darkness... not that I was buying into her insane vision of literal light versus dark or anything. Anyways, in spite of her insane and warped ideals she was my master for the time being. So, I bowed my head to her, "I understand, master."

"I'm glad you understand. However this is not a class. This is a trial. I wish to test your abilities." She rolled her eyes into the back of her head and reached out to me with her mind, "Great potential I sense in you..."

"Thank you..." So the Sith lords keep telling me. I hated saying these next words yet again, "...my master."

She looked over to her left and then to her right, "Kali, Moyi, Leave us."

Soon after she said that, two female Mirialans clad in black and gray robes walked from the darkness and into the candlelight. One to the left and one to the right. Mirialans were a near human species. They had greenish-yellow skin. The female's skin was often lighter in color than males. Most Mirialans had tattoos on their faces and hands to signify their maturity. These two Mirialan women appeared to be twins. Each had black, shoulder length, hair tied back into a tri-tail and had nearly identical facial features. The one to Lokindr's left had a dark green, nearly black, shark tooth shapped tattoo on her left cheek just under her left eye. The one on the right had a violet, shark tooth shaped tattoo on her right cheek just under her eye. They both bowed to Phyress before walking past me into the lift. I'm guessing that they were the voices that I heard earlier when I first entered the room.

(Note: Mirialan: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/character/luminaraunduli/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

Phyress stood up from her throne and walked over to me. She spoke with an odd tone of voice. Her voice sounded menacing yet veiled in a gentle tone. She cackled to herself as she sized me up, "You seem to be well balanced and your emotions are well in check. Almost to a fault. To be a true Sith you need a touch of madness and blood lust. But to be a Sith Lord you need to know the difference between rage and cunning ruthlessness. What do you think you are capable of, my little neophyte? Do you think you could become a Sith knight, a Sith Lord, or perhaps even the true Dark Lord of the Sith... or are you just a worthless carapace shell around untapped force potential?!"

She started to harshly shriek a bit as she asked me those questions but I remained calm. I kept my voice dark and my face emotionless, "I am whatever the dark side of the force beckons of me. I will serve the Sith to whatever my awakened potential allows."

I thought that sounded cool and apparently so did she, "Well said. Your name?"

"Ceddes Nemea." I answered.

"Ceddes, you have one final trail before you are allowed into Hyarsythe." She told me.

"I am ready." I told her.

She laughed and stood up from her throne, "Oh? You think so..."

In a slight showing of weakness I gulped and shrugged my shoulders, "Erm... I guess."

In a sudden, lightning fast, and violent motion she reached out with her right and grabbed onto my forehead. She dug her fingernails deep into the flesh on my forehead. Enough to cause a small amount of blood to trickle down my face. Before I could protest, a harsh vision pierced my mind. In my vision I could see the inside of the Jedi council room. Only... the room was warped and darker than I last remembered. Twelve council members stood around me with their lightsabers drawn. They were the same council members that banned me from the order six years ago... only they were taller... and they looked eerily distorted. I noticed Klypso standing before me, she was the tallest of the Jedi and she had a lightsaber handle clutched in her hand. They each started down at me with cold, dead eyes. Klypso smiled as she ignited her saber. The other eleven Masters ignited their sabers as well. They raised them above their head. I was small, weak, and I could not talk. I tried to cry out for them to stop but words just wouldn't escape my mouth.

Suddenly I feel a burning pain in my chest. I looked down and saw a green lightsaber blade piercing from the back of chest. Then another blade pierced my chest, then another in my side, one in my neck, not long later eleven lightsaber blades had pierced my body. I tired screaming in pain but again... no sound came out. The pain was immense. The vision started to blur and vanish but not right before I saw Klypso take her blade and decapitate my body.

The next thing I know I'm on the ground, grasping at my chest with my hands, screaming in pain. I was cold and sick to my stomach... and I could still feel the lightsabers in my body. I looked around while I was squirming on the ground. It was dark without much lighting. Only candles lit the room and I could see a lady standing next to my body. It took me awhile to realize that I was still in Lokindr's room. For a few moments I had forgotten what I was experiencing was just a vision and not some cruel reality. Lokindr reached down with her right hand, dripping with my blood, and offered me a hand up. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me to my feet. I wipped some blood from my forehead then looked her in the eyes, "So that... was the final test?"

She nodded her head, "Yes. A vision of the greatest darkness in you're life. Many students get lost in the vision and never return. You survived... and I'm glad you did, my neophyte."

I had to take a few breaths before I could respond. I was still dizzy and sick to my stomach. When I felt a bit better I sighed, "Could you see the vision as well?"

She placed a genital hand on my shoulder, "The Jedi... have betrayed you..."

Damn. I was hoping to keep the fact that I was once a Jedi to myself. Guess it didn't pay to deny it anymore. I nodded my head, "I was... once a Jedi padawan."

She ran a bloody finger across my jaw line before she grabbed onto my chin and pulled me face into a gaze with her eyes, "Neophyte, don't be afraid... I too was betrayed by the Jedi."

I snapped my head out of her grip and raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

She nodded, "Oh, yes. A young and foolish padawan I fell in love with a boy, another padawan. The council told us to stop our relationship but we didn't want too. So they outcast us. We had given our lives to the Jedi and this one thing we wanted for ourselves... they wouldn't allow. So together we left the council and were later introduced to the Sith. The boy I loved fell for another girl at the Sith academy. There, the grand Darth Vultous taught me that there is no love and their is no caring. I killed the boy I once loved and the girl he fell for. This is the Sith manner. Tell me boy, what reason did the self righteous Jedi betray you?"

I was still in shock that Lokindr and I had so much in common. I just looked down at the ground as I lied, "I... too fell for another padawan."

She chuckled to herself, "Now, now there is no reason to lie. Tell me what they did!"

I was caught... I looked her dead in the eyes, "Very well... I acted against the order's wishes."

"And what wish did you act against?" She asked with a interested tone.

I forced a half smile, "I killed a Sith Lord."

For awhile she didn't move and said nothing. A few moments later she burst out in laughter, "Well, well. It seems like you are speaking the truth. I will ask you no more. I'll tell you that your talents have peeked my interest."

I smiled slightly, "I seem to get that allot lately."

She walked over to her throne and sat back down. She waved her bloody hand at me, "You may leave now. Ask Kali and Moyi to take you to an assigned room to stay in. Kali and Moyi are Hyarsythe's best students. This means they are your biggest completion. Oh!...and one more thing..."

"Yes?" I asked.

She reached her left hand out at me. I felt the lightsaber in my back pocket slide out and flew into her waiting hand. She looked the blade over, "This is rather sloppy looking. You won't be needing this anymore."

I bowed my head toward her before dismissing myself, "Yes, Master Lokindr."

I turned around and walked blindly toward the lift doors. There was a slight light that escaped through the crack of the lift doors so it wasn't too hard to find in the dark. When I got to the lift the doors opened automatically. I saw the two Mirialan twins standing at the back of the lift. The one with the green tattoo motioned for me to join them on the lift. I walked into the lift, as I did the doors shut behind me. I looked over to them and asked a stupid question, "Uhh... so which one of you is Moyi and which is Kali?"

They both looked at me like I was some sort of vermin that crawled its way into the lift with them. The one with the purple tattoo spoke to me with an emotionless tone, "We'll take you to your living quarters."

Great, I had pissed off the best students in Hyarsythe. I was off to a bang so far! Together with my new best friends I rode the lift down to the third floor where the twins led me out of the lift into a cold, dreary looking hallway. The hallway was made of unpainted metal, all of it was metal. Every four and a half meters or so there was a clunky, metal door built into each the walls. Moyi, the one with the purple tattoo, told me, "These are the basic living quarters. If you do well enough, like us, you'll be rewarded with better rooms."

Kali, the green tattoo, snickered, "Consider it motivation for a lowly neophyte."

Something told me that Kali and Moyi were going to be a problem. The teachers pets of Hyarsythe. They led me down the hallway for awhile until we got to a room with the number 66 painted in red above the door. They told me this was my room and that everything I needed to live, including cloths, were already placed in my room. Then they left with out another word. That was it... I guess I now officially part of Hyarsythe. It wasn't easy... I had to kill a Sith unit, steel there ship, hack into that ship, talk my way to challenge Vedalt'e, survive his challenge, survive the pressurized head vice in the tunnel, survive those haunting Sithrimi visions, survive Bast's second trial, and finally survive my encounter with Phyress Lokindr. I managed to survive and impresses a few Sith Lords in the process... though so far I have pissed off every student I've met.

I took a deep breath and exhaled as I grabbed onto the door handle then opened the door into room 66. It was pretty much what I excepted, cramped, cold, and was made of allot of metal. To the left of the door was a closet. I went over and checked what clothing they had set for me. It was actually quite an impressive wardrobe. Most of it was black, what wasn't black was gray or dark red. Lots of robes, body gloves, flight suits, and loose fitting cloths. There was enough to give each student some variety and personality. That actually surprised me. I expected us to all be in the same uniform.

Next to the closet was the refresher which was basically just a small sonic shower, sink, and toilet in an even more cramped room. There was even a smaller sonic device used for cleaning clothing. On the right side of the room was a bed with a small amount of padding and a heavy blanket. At the very back of the room was a metal desk. Thankfully, there was also a vent that breathed warm air into the room as well as small, black, heating devices placed on the metal around the room to keep the metal from freezing temperatures. All in all it wasn't too bad. It was smaller but had more stuff than my room in the Jedi temple. I never had my very own refresher as a padawan.

I stood in the center of the room, the only place with any real walking room, and just tried to adjust my mind into the situation I was in. I went through allot just to get here... what would I have to do to get any good information worth using? I didn't want to think about it. I just flopped back onto the bed and re-replayed the events of just a few days. A few days ago I was a repairman... now I was trying to destroy the Sith... or at least wound them greatly, and how did I decide to do it? I became one of them! If Master Tal was alive he'd call me a fool, which was putting it nicely. To put it bluntly, I was either going to be a genius or an idiot... so far I'm just an idiot...


	5. Chapter 6: Tower

Chapter 6: Tower

When my eyes opened from my slumber I was hoping I would be in a different place. Anywhere but room 66 in Hyarsyhte. Alas, this was not the case. I had spent my first night sleeping in the Sith academy rather than rejuvenating meditation. I still feared that I may witness those visions if I do certain meditations in the area of the Sithrimi. The Sithrimi was by far going to be the most challenging aspect of my mission. It could manipulate one's emotions so much that I wouldn't just be fighting the Sith, I'd be fighting the dark self inside of me. Anyways... as nervous as the Sithrimi made me, I couldn't let it distract me. It was my first full day at Hyarsythe and I'd already be beginning my teachings. I was told that I'd be getting my weekly schedule early this morning.

I wasn't sure exactly when my first class would begin so I made sure I'd be ready just in case it was early. I got out of bed, took a sonic shower, and got dressed. With so many clothing options I decided to pick some warm raiment since I was still so unfamiliar with the colder temperature in Hyarsythe. I went with a warm, black, skintight, body glove with long sleeves and a long collar for my upper body and black, baggy, thickly clothed pants. Both were warm and flexible which was important in case I had to do any physical training today. I finished the outfit by putting on a dark gray vest, with a black hood attached to it, over the black body glove. I preferred having the hood because it hid my face. I was after all the padawan the killed Darth Vultous. I didn't think I was at all recognizable from six years ago but I didn't want to take the chance. Plus, I didn't seem to get along well with the other students, especially when I made eye contact... or breathed... or really did anything. The more I distanced myself from the Sith and kept hidden, the better. It was bad enough that all the Sith Lords had an eye on me and my talents... the way they all said, "talents" really creeped me out.

When I finished getting dressed I walked over to the desk at the back of the room. I opened a drawer and pulled out a bar of dehydrated meat wrapped in a foil wrapper. I was told that supper was served in a cafeteria on the fourth level of Hyarsythe but for the other times of the day the only food we got was the same stuff I ate in Soundy-Dail. It tasted nasty but at least it was a taste I was used to it.

When I finished eating the meat I heard a metalic tapping sound at my door. I walked over to the door and opened it. I saw a bronze colored droid standing in the hallway. It had a humanoid body complete with a torso, two scrawny arms, a neck, and a cylinder shaped head. The tripodal, spiderlike, lower half of the droid had three, tri-jointed, skinny legs. Strapped to the droid's side was a leather bag. The droid reached into the bag and pulled out a piece of parchment with writing on it. It double checked the parchment before handing it to me, "Weekly schedule for room 66."

I took the paper from it and gave it a slight nod of the head, "Thanks, I guess."

The droid scampered away down the hallway to the next room. I looked the parchment over and noticed my first class was still a few hours away. The class was "Dark Arts Knowledge" with Bast Zephyrus, great. I looked up from the parchment and saw a student in the room across from mine standing there reading his parchment as well. The student was Nautolan. This Nautolan had green skin, large, unblinking eyes, and a gathered tangle of flexible tentacle-tresses extending from the back of his head. He was around my age, maybe a few months younger. He was deep into concentration as he read his schedual until that human male that looked like he was once a slave and was nearly choked to death by Bast, showed up. He was now shirtless in black, robed pants, and walked down the hallway in between the two of us. The Nautolan looked up from the parchment and with a slight smile, nodded his head to the shirtless student. The shirtles student just puffed out his chest and spat at the Nautolan's feet before walking away. What a jerk. From now on I shall call him, "Shirtless".

(Note: Nautolan example: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/character/kitfisto/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

It wasn't until after that, that the Nautolan finally noticed me standing there. When he saw me, rather than smiling and nodding his head, he copied the shirtless student's behavior by puffing his chest out and giving my a sour look. I raised a confused eyebrow and just stared at him with a bewildered look on my face. He stared back at me until he exhaled loudly and went back to his normal stature, "Sorry. I just don't know how to act around here."

I chuckled under my breath, "I wouldn't say that around here. You can't let other know of your weaknesses."

He rubbed the back of his tentacled head, "Uhh... right."

"You don't really seem like the typical Sith material." I told him.

He curled his lips and put his hands on his hips, "Look, I may not act the roll but I'm not to be underestimated."

I put my hands up in surrender, "Sorry. I didn't mean anything negative about it. Its just that you seem a little more... how can I put it?... Mellow, less aggressive."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Well, whatever. If you think I'm weak, if you want to make me a target, go ahead. It'll be your own problem."

I smiled, "Look, I'm not here to cause trouble with anyone. Well, at least not yet."

"Hmph," He grunted, "Fine, whatever."

He turned around and walked into his room, closing the door behind him. Great, another student pissed off at me. Whatever happened to my witty and sparkling personality? I guess the Sith just don't appreciate it. Oh well. I went back into my room and decided I'd do some relaxing meditation until it was time to leave for my first class. I found out late last night that relaxing meditation, unlike rejuvenating meditation, didn't seem to invoke those frightening visions of the Sithrimi.

Relaxing meditation was defiantly something that the Sith did not teach so I'd have to do it alone in my room. The reason being is that it was a light side technique that sent calming pulses through the body. It kept the body, mind, and emotions all steady and calm. Everything that the Sith didn't want. Relaxing meditation would be my main weapon against the harsh Sithrimi and so far it seemed to be working. Though, I had yet to do anything really mentaly straining and I had a feeling that my first class with Bast would be more than even meditation could handle.

\-V-/

Above the reddish-brown planet, Hypori, a dark blue and white, wedge shaped ship with two small crest shaped wings on each side flew down into the planet's atmosphere. The ship was a fast and nimble Jedi starfighter belonging to the ace Jedi pilot, Zade Rad'hyth. He arrived at Hypori after receiving the mission from the other members on the Jedi council to search the area around Hypori for the cause of a republic armada to be destroyed. Fortunately for Zade the Sith armada that the republic was fighting was long gone. Otherwise Zade could have found himself in a tough situation. Unfortunately, for the other council members he wouldn't have to fight the Sith with just a single fighter and would probably come out of this alive. Zade knew they wanted him dead and he'd have to do something about it later. Now though he had to do some detective work.

When he first arrived to Hypori from hyperspace the first think he noticed was a large scar on the planet's surface. It was large enough to be visible from space. No doubt in Zade's mind that whatever that flash of light in his vision was, it was the cause of the genocidal destruction. The next thing he noticed was the remnants of the destroyed Republic and Jedi armada. Large, charred, fragments of hulls belonging to Republic gunships, cruisers, and frigates floated in space like an eerie ship graveyard. A few smaller parts of fighters were also mixed into the mix of hulls, scraps of metal, and random ship parts floating in space. There were a few Sith ships, including one Sith frigate, destroyed too but most of it was either Jedi or Republic.

It was clear to Zade that there wouldn't be any evidence of the attack in this space graveyard but perhaps someone on Hypori witnessed the attack and could shed some light on the situation. He also wanted to check the extent of the damage caused by the scar on the planet's surface. So he decide to fly through the ship graveyard and straight toward Hypori.

When he broke through Hypori's atmosphere he checked his navicomputer for the nearest, large city. The nearest large city was Fifth District. Not the most creative name, Zade thought, but he didn't need creativity, he needed answers. Zade flew his fighter over barren land toward a city build into a large cavern. Fifth District was made mostly of metal and iron buildings carved and constructed into the cavern walls. A port was built on the top of a bridge built between the two sides of the cavern. Zade got clearance to land from the port and steered his ship into a hanger door. The hanger inside the port had two stacks of platforms constructed to the left and right of the hanger. Each platform was constructed into diffrent heights that accommodated different types and sizes of ships. Zade landed his fighter on the bottom platform of the left stack.

When the fighter hovered down and landed, Zade popped the ship's canopy open and hopped out of the ship. He reached over to the fighter's left side where an astromech droid was stowed into a recess compartment built just to the left side of the fighter's cockpit. He patted the gray and yellow astromech droid, called P3-TP, on the domed head, "P3, make sure you keep an eye on the ship. Hypori has some seedy characters looking to scrap ships for some quick credits."

The droid beeped and whistled in agreement that it would guard the ship. Zade smiled and gave the little droid that he had since a padawan, a final pat on the dome before walking away and out of the port. His first stop would be to Fifth District's security division. If anyone knew anything about the attack, they would.

--

Built into the southern side of Fifth District's cavern wall was the city's security division. The police of Fifth District. There, inside the building, Zade sat in a chair inside the division's waiting room. He'd been waiting there for nearly an hour. Every few minuets he'd look past the waiting room toward the droid receptionist sitting at a desk. He shot the coal colored, humanoid-female designed, labor droid, a sour look, "Miss...umm, droid... I am very busy. I would very much like to speak with your first in command."

The droid looked back at him through her green visor-like-eyes, "Sir, Officer Tebyu will be with you when he is ready. He doesn't have time to just be meet with any random person."

"But that is his job!" Zade countered, "Did you mention that I was a Jedi from Coruscant?"

The droid shook her head, "I don't care who you are. If you're a Jedi, if you are a-"

The droid suddenly fell silent as an older human male walked out of a side office. He was portly with short, salt and pepper hair and a long mustache. He wore a long, gray overcoat over a black flight suit. The man walked up to the droid's desk and rapped his fist on the desktop, "Any new messages, M-U?"

The droid, M-U, shook her head, "Nope... Oh. You do have a visitor though."

Zade shot up from his seat and stared lasers at M-U, "You mean you never even told anybody I was here?!"

The droid looked down and began typing something into a computer, ignoring Zade. The portly man sighed and walked over to Zade, "My name is officer Tebyu. Sorry about M-U. She has a bit of loose bolt. I hope you weren't waiting too long."

Zade tugged on his robe and grunted as he stared at the labor droid, "Hmm... it's fine, I guess. Anyways, I am Master Rad'hyth. I'm here about the attack that scarred Hypori."

They quick shook hands before Tebyu eyed Zade, "Master? You're a Jedi arn't ya?"

Zade nodded his head, "Yes."

Tebyu shook his head and placed his hand's on his hips, "Well, I'd be cautious around here. There are a few gangs of Sith supporters around here. Cult like. Just keep an eye out."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Zade said, "I was hoping you'd have some sort of information on the attack."

Tebyu nodded, "Yeah, yeah. The one that left a nasty dent in the ground just south of here. We got something quite interesting. You see we have security probes around Hyproi that have holo-cams attached to them. During the fight between the Republic and Sith we sent a few probes around the battle sight. I should mention that all we sent were probes. We are neutrel in this war after all."

Zade nodded his head, "Yes. I understand. It seems for the best that no local ships were sent to battle. Their fate probably would have been the same."

Tebyu continued, "All but one of those probes were destroyed. The one that wasn't destroyed had it's relay dish damaged in the battle though. I sent a unit up there to retrieve this probe so we could view it's recordings manually. Hopefully that part of the probe is still in tact."

Zade crossed his arms across his chest, "Good, visual evidence... hopefully. When did you send your troop?"

Tebyu rubbed his chin, "Well, a few hours ago but it may take awhile. With the relay dish damaged we can't track the probe's exact location. So we have to sift through the wreckage."

Zade sighed, "Well, it's not like I'm in any major hurry to get back to the temple. Believe me, I'm in no rush."

Tebyu looked around the waiting room, "Well... there isn't much to do around here. All you can do is wait really."

"You know nothing else about the attack? Anything you can share?" Zade asked.

Tebyu shrugged his shoulders, "All I know is that there was a bright flash in the sky and a loud sound, far away in the distance."

Zade raised a hopeless eyebrow, "Ahh... that's all?"

"At least until we retrieve the probe." He said.

Zade sat back down into his chair, "Then I suppose I'll wait here."

--

"Wake up!" A voice shouted as Zade felt a cold hand shove him in the chest.

Zade opened his eyes and saw M-U standing infront of him. He looked around and saw he was still in the waiting room sitting in a chair. Apparently he had fallen asleep in the waiting room. M-U made a sound that sounded like a scoff, "Tebyu wants to see you in his office."

Zade yawned and stood up, "Oh, dear. I must have fallen asleep. How long have I been napping?"

M-U didn't respond. She just walked back behind her desk and went back to work. Zade really did not care for this droid. Zade walked past the desk, not without shooting M-U another foul, grimacing face, and into Tebyu's small office. When he entered he saw Tebyu sitting on one side of an ugly, light green desk. Tebyu gestured for Zade to sit down across from him, "We got the data from the probe."

Zade's eyebrows raised in mild excitement, "Oh? And?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno. I haven't watched it yet. I figured I'd wait for you."

Zade sat down in an uncomfortable, backless chair and sat forward as he tried to get comfortable. Tebyu watched in amusement as Zade struggled with the chair. After a few seconds of struggling to get comfortable, he gave up and just rested his chin on his right hand, "So... do you have the data here?"

Tebyu nodded and pointed to a holorecorder on his desk, "Right here. Shall I play it?"

Zade nodded his head, "Please do."

Tebyu hit a button on his desk causing the lights in his office to dim. He then reached down to the holorecorder and flipped it on. A large black, white, and gray holo-image hovered above the desk top. Zade and Tebyu watched as the view from the probe's prospective. At first the only thing visible was open space and a small section of Hypori in the very bottom right corner of the image. Zade looked underneath the image, at Tebyu, "You didn't have the cam faced the wrong way did you?"

Tebyu looked back at Zade with a helpless look, "I hope not."

A quick flash on the screen broke their conversation. Zade looked back at the image and saw laser fire fly across the screen. The probe's view adjusted itself and rotated the cam toward the battle. Then Zade and Tebyu were able to witness the battle between the two armadas. Sith and Republic gunships, fighters, a few cruisers, and a few larger frigates were engaged in heavy laser fire. The Republic and Jedi side vastly out numbered the Sith. Nearly two to one. Zade watched as a small speck on the image, a Jedi starfighter, burst into flames and crashed into the hull of a Sith missile cruiser. The collision caused the Sith cruiser's port side to erupt in an explosion, leaving the rest of the cruiser unoperational. Zade gave the fallen Jedi a quick bow of the head in respect.

The two watched on with their eyes glued to the image. A few minuets later they saw the command tower in the Sith's main frigate explode from a large cannon blast from a Republic gunship. The frigate's shields were down and all fire from the Republic was concentrated onto the helpless frigate. Zade and Tebyu watched on as doznes of small explosions ripped through the frigate's hull. When the Republic saw that the frigate was erupting from chain reaction explosions they concentrated on another Sith frigate.

Zade watched on with a bad fealing in his stomach. This battle was going very well for the Republic, yet he knew something was going to happen to change that and he knew it would be coming soon on the image. When he arrived at Hypori and looked at the ship graveyard, he noticed only one destroyed Sith frigate. That means the others escaped some how. Zade continued watching with unblinking eyes as The Republic attacked their second frigate until finally that moment Zade was worried about, happened. In a sudden and unexplained move, the Republic ships started pulling back and away from the attack. Zade shook his head on confusion, "What's going on?"

Almost in response to his question and almost exactly like his vision, a large beam of light shot across the screen, blinding the holo-image momentarily. When the light vanished from the recording, Zade and Tebyu saw a Republic frigate in pieces of charred metal. Most of the ship was completely gone. The only thing that remained was the frigate's smoldering aft. Tebyu's jaw was wide open, "Wh-what was that?"

Moments later, hundreds of lasers were fired off screen toward the battle. The laser fire came from the same direction the large beam of light did and ripped into the smaller fighters. Then another large beam of light shot across the battle site. This time though the probe's holocam was able to adjust for the sudden amount of light and made it more visible. It was a large, solid beam of light nearly the size of one of the Republic frigates. This second blast hit another Republic frigate directly in the center of the ship. The frigate had no chance. The beam of light passed right through the ship's body and headed down to the planet Hypori. That explained the scar on the planet's surface.

Zade and Tebyu continued watching as another beam of light ripped through another Republic frigate. The Republic ships started turning around to retreat but they were too slow. Another blast struck a few, smaller cruisers, disintegrating them and any fighters next to them. Zade could barley continue himself to watch this video. It was a slaughter. Suddenly a lone laser bolt from off screen, flew past the image and hit the probe. This caused the probe to jerk and spin around violently. The image turned into a blurry mess as the probe spun around before the image cut off and fizzled off. Tebyu sighed as hsslumped back into his chair, "I guess that's when the probe was damaged... that's all we got."

Zade rubbed his chin as he thought, "Could you... take that back to when the probe was spinning around?"

Tebyu replayed the image right before the probe was struck with the bolt. Zade leaned over and took a closer look, "Make sure you play it at the slowest possible speed."

Tebyu did as Zade requested, replaying the image at the slowest possible speed. The movement on the image moved at a snail's pace. Scene by scene they watched as the bolt struck the probe causing it to spin around. The image slowly blurred as the image moved away from the battle toward the planet Hypori. Then past Hypori back into empty space. Suddenly Zade noticed something as teh probe began spinning back toward the battle and told Tebyu to pause it.

The image stopped in it's place. In the upper right hand corner of the image they both noticed a large, blurry, dark gray, cylindrical, mass hovering just outside of the battle. It was too blurry to tell what it was so Zade told Tebyu to play it just a little more. As the probe began spinning again, the better view of the mass they got. Eventually, they got part of the mass center in the image and Tebyu paused it. He shook his head with disbelief, "That... what is that?"

The large, blurry, mass was manmade and gigantic. It was far away from the probe but even so, it was too large to fully fit on the screen. This large mass that appeared on the image was all cylindrical and very wide. It looked almost like a tower in space. There were dark gray rings built in a pattern around the tower. Each ring had rows of laser turrets built into them. The very bottom of the tower was hollowed out. It didn't take long for Zade to realize what the bottom part of the ship was. It was a cannon. The cannon was the thing that was destroying the Republic armada and those turrets were the laser fire that was destroying the fighters.

Zade just sat their, staring at the monstrosity. It floated in space like an imposing juggernaut. He had no idea what this harbinger was but he knew that the Sith could and would use it at their whim. With this, they might even be able to take on the capitol planet, Coruscant. Zade knew he'd have to tell the council and Republic of his findings... but he had no way of knowing how they would use this information. For all Zade knew, the Republic could manipulate this new information in the senate to increase their military power and funding... or worse yet... they could give even more power to the council...


	6. Chapter 7: Neophytes

The second floor on Hyarsythe; Mental Training Grounds. This floor consisted of a large, gymnasium like room and a few smaller rooms connected to the gymnasium. The smaller, connecting rooms consisted of a large Sith archives library, a room that trained students in battle tactics, and a room that helped train students in piloting starfighters and other forms of Sith transports. The gymnasium itself was pretty big and was made to look like the inside of a cave. Craggy rocks covered the curved walls and ceiling. The ground was made of a few different elements. Most of the ground was just dark gray, metal, floor panels. However, to match the cave like theme they had a few clusters of rocks placed in various areas around the gymnasium floor. I wasn't sure why it was made to look like a cave, maybe for more of a natural look, but they did a pretty good job constructing it.

I stood in the center of a line, surrounded by my fellow rookie students, or neophytes. There were seven neophytes, including "Shirtless", myself, and the Neutolan that I met earlier today when he had a run in with shirtless. I noticed most students, both male and female for those species with genders, in Hyarsythe liked wearing revealing and skimpy clothing. Reason being that lust is a powerful tool of manipulation. I could already see how big of a distraction that could be. Thankfully there weren't any of those... umm... err.. distractions in my group. There were also those, like those twins, that liked wearing robes like the traditinal Sith Lord.

The Nautolan for instance, wore much lighter clothing than I did. though he had a different reason. He simply wore a dark gray tank top and black baggy shorts. He even had bare feat. Its not surprising since the Neutolan are an amphibious-like species and are used to colder temperatures. Though they are amphibious-like they can handle many different types of claimants.

Bast stood in front of the line of neophytes with his arms folded across his chest. He wore a simple, black Sith robe. We just stood there in the center of the gymnasium as we watched Bast eye each of us, individually. After a few minuets of waiting, Bast finally spoke, "Todaaay... we will be goooing over the basssics. Jussst the basicsss."

Shirtless grumbled, "Basics?"

Bast shot Shirtless a nasty glare that shut him up instantly. Bast seemed amused with himself. He unfolded his arms and started pacing back and forth, "Mossst of you alrrready know the basics. Levvvitating objectsss, pushing and puuulling with the v'orce (force). It's standard v'or alllmost any v'roce ussser, dark ssside... or light ssside. You sssee this class is not jussst for teaching you the darrrk side of the v'orce... but alssso educating you on the lllight side. To de'veat (defeat) your eniemieees... you must unnnderstand them. To understand their weaknessss."

Shirtless scoffed, "When do we get to learn stuff?"

Bast growled to himself, "Stu'vv?! (Stuff) You are vvvery clossse to the tip o'v my lightsaberrr. I'v (If) I unnnderstand correclty, you are the onllly one here who dose not knnnow the basicsss."

Shirtless looked at each, fellow neophyte with a grimace. Apparently, this was the first that he, or any of us, heard of this. Now everyone knew that Shirtless was the weakest in the group... and he'd be everyone's target. Bast didn't like Shirtless and took pleasure in being the one the point out his weakness. He pointed one of his sucction-cup tipped fingers at me, "You. V'yress (Phyress) told meee all about your... passst. I thinnnk I'll allow youuu to teach this rat how to do thingsss."

Apparently Lokindr told Bast about my past as a padawan. I'm just glad he didn't tell the rest of the students that I was once a Jedi pupil. The last thing I needed was another reason for the student's to hate me. He signaled for me to stand next to him. So I walked from the line and stood next to him. I gave him a slight bow of the head, "What do you want of me, Master?"

He pointed to a metal rack with blunt, iron objects placed on them. Each object was a different shape and size. The rack was placed about nine meters away from us. He looked me in the eyes, "I ammm sure you caaan eassily levvvvitate those objectsss."

I nodded my head and grinned, "No problem."

I stretched my left hand toward the rack and concentrated on a metal pole about the size of a lightsaber handle. With a quick tug of the force, the object flew from the rack, zipped across the nine meters, and into the palm of my hand. I spun the pole in my hand before handing it to Bast. Bast took the pole from me and gripped it in one of his hands, "Wellll done. Howwwever, I am disappointed. I expected mooore... ssstyle from youuu."

"Style, eh? Why didn't you say so?" I pointed my left index and middle finger at another metal object. This one was the shape of a sphere cut in half. I made a quick flick of my two fingers and used the force to send the half-sphere flying into the air. This time the object didn't come to my hand. Instead, the smooth, bottom half of the object flew into the face of Shirtless. The object made a smashing sound as it struck him directly in the nose. This got a few chuckles from the other students, and a small one even from Bast. Shirtless cursed me and charged at me with his fists wailing toward my face. Without any worries I placed my right palm directly on his chest and force pushed him backwards. He flew about three meters backwards and landed on his butt. I grinned at him as he got to his feat. He was smarter this time and decided not to attack me. Instead he just walked back to the line, with a major chip on his shoulder. I bowed my head to Bast, "And there is your force push. I hope that was a bit better, Master."

I have no idea what the facial expression of a Quarren is, but I'm pretty sure I saw a hint of amusement in his face. He signaled for me to get back into line, "Mildy amusing."

After I finished my example of object levitation and a bonus force push, Bast had the other students show him what they were capable of. With the exception of Shirtless, the other students were able to levitate an item to their hands. They weren't as fluid in their levitation as I was. From what I was told by a trooper back in the hanger above the Apsus waters, most of these students were taught a few things in other academies. These students were viewed to have great potential in other academies and were moved here to Hyarsythe, a more lucrative academy. So most of them didn't know much more than Shirtless about the force. That meant I had a leg up on the competition.

Most of the time I just waited and watched the others as Bast gave them advice to improve their ability of object levitation. There are many different techniques to learn force levitation and listening to his advice helped show me some of the differences between the Sith and Jedi. As a youngling I was taught to levitate objects by reaching out with my mind and visualizing an imaginary hand of the force, grab an object and pull it to you. Bast's way to teach object levitation was forcing, nearly commanding the object into your hand. Thankfully, he didn't give me any of his Sith advice since I already knew how to do this. Even a small practice like this, if altered as Bast had done, could slowly turn one toward the dark side.

After an hour or so of teaching us object levitation, Bast decided to move on to the next technique. The next technique we learned was the other trick I pulled on Shirtless, force push. Again I sat most of this out and again Bast's way of teaching was a tad different. For the most part it was the same, imagine a powerful push into an objects or objects... only Bast described it a little more violently. He wanted us to imagine a powerful blast, slamming into your opponent's body. The Jedi wanted the force push to be a less violent and nonlethal way to disable your opponent. The Sith way was using it as a weapon to hurt and disable your opponent... then striking them down regardless if the force push left the opponent unarmed or not.

After the force push, class was over. Bast told us to take what we learned and practice on our own, especially Shirtless. It was a much lighter class load than I excepted but I knew this was only the basic class. It was going to get much rougher from here on out. After class was dismissed I checked my schedule. In a half hour I had lightsaber training with Ollose Vedalt'e, my old friend. Something told me there would be no basic training in his class. No, something told me that Ollose was going to be an all-out teacher. No basics, just instant action. I just hoped nobody else had as much training with a lightsaber as I had.

Fifth floor of Hyarsythe; Physical Training Arena. This place was huge! A large arena like room with many different platforms joined together. Each room created for many different types of physical training. The platforms were cell likes rooms, enclosed in large walls, joined together. Some rooms had lightsaber training, one cell had a pool for endurance and stamina building, one cell had a giant climbing wall, one cell even had a room that basically put you through torture so you'd get used to pain.

This place wasn't called an arena for nothing though. At the very center of the giant room the Sith built an actual arena. The arena was used as a proving ground for the students. In the center of this arena there was a floor made of an actual, natural, slab of bedrock that acted as the arena's floor. On this natural ground, student's would duel in front of a crowd of other students that would sit in rows of seats placed in bleachers around the arena. The top of this arena had a caged dome, just for drastic effect, I assume.

I was told that there would often be days where there would be no teachings. Instead students and Sith Lords alike would gather here in the bleachers. Then the Sith Lords would name two students, or students would challenge another student. Those students would then duel in a variety of different ways. Usually they'd battle with stun sticks, non-lethal lightsaber training devices, sometimes they'd just brawl with fists, feet, elbows, and anything else on the body that can cause damage. In rare cases they would have battles with actual lightsabers. Those battles would usually end with only one survivor though. That type of battle was just for advanced students, ones who need to prove themselves before they can ascend into the Sith ranks... or for those students who were too weak or too troublesome and would be fed by the Lords to another student just to be rid of them. Hopefully, I'd never have to take part in that arena... but I was sure that I would eventually find myself in some sort of duel surrounded by students that I'm sure, with my reputation so far, would be cheering against me.

I couldn't think about the future for now. For right now I stood in a cell just near the entrance. The room was decagon in shape with slate gray colored walls. The floor was made of the a similar slab of bedrock that was placed inside the center arena. I'm guessing they used bedrock because it had more of a grippy surface than normal paneled flooring. Built into one of the decagon's walls was a rack that held long, silver colored sticks. Those were stun sticks. They were the same height and close to the same weight as an average lightsaber. They were used in training. The dull blade of the training device had little poisonous barbs rubbed onto it's surface. When one student hit another student with the blade, the barbs would stick into the victim's skin and temporally paralyze that body part. This paralysis would act like as if that limb or body part had been cut with a lightsaber and render is useless, Like it would in real life. Though, a few species have tough enough skin and the barbs don't effect them at all.

I was surrounded by the same neophytes that took place in Bast's training, including Shirtless and the Nautolan, as well as a few new students. We stood in the ever-so-familiar line of students as Ollose Vedalt'e paced in front of us and the sounds of heavy training echoed throughout the giant arena room. He paced from one side of the line to the other, eyeing each of us along the way. Finally he clapped his hands/feat together, "All right then! This isn't going to be like Bast's little training regimen. There won't be any basics today. I won't be going easy on you," By the way he talked I got that there was tension between Bast and Ollose, "Today, I'll be testing your abilities. There will be pain... there will be blood!" Ollose pointed to Shirtless, "You first!"

Shirtless looked a little nervous as he took a step forward from the line. Ollose walked over to the rack of stun sticks and removed two of them. He tossed one to Shirtless and kept one for himself. When Shirtless caught the stun stick he made the mistake of grabbing the dull blade with the barbs on it... with both of his bare hands. He dropped the stun stick as he looked at his hands. Both of his hands were growing puffy and red, "Ahh! They burn!"

Ollose grumbled to himself, "Useless." He hopped over to Shirtless and checked his hands, "Those blades are covered in poisonous barbs. They simulate getting hit with an actual lightsaber. It'll burn, it'll sting, and it'll render the infected body part useless for a few hours."

"Why didn't you tell me that?!" Shirtless shouted.

Ollose snarled and cracked Shirtless across the side of the face with his stun stick. Shirtless screamed as he fell to the ground and started writhing in pain. Ollose took his right arm, which acted like his leg, and stomped down on Shirtless's head, grinding his face into the bedrock. He laughed as he did it, "The worst thing for an infection from those barbs is..." He dug his fingers deeper into Shirtless's head and stared grinding his face even harder, "... is friction!"

It was pure torture. The constant grinding, not only started drawing blood from his face, but it was also enflaming the infection. I didn't like the kid but I would never wish torture upon him. I lowered my head, causing my hood to mask my face from the others. I didn't want anybody to know that I had adverted my gaze from the scene. Otherwise I might appear weak to the others. Vedalt'e finally stopped the grinding and pulled Shirtless up to his feat by his hair. When Shirtless got to his feat, Ollose mule kicked him backward, to the line of neophytes. He then acted as nothing had happened, his false smile returned on his face, and pointed to another student, "You're next!"

He grabbed the fallen stun stick and tossed it to another student. I recognized this student from our second trail with Bast. She was a humanoid species with a huge forehead. She was smart enough not to grab the stun stick by the barbed blade... she was however, dumb enough to jump out of the way of the sword that was tossed to her and let the stun stick hit the ground. She went to pick the stick up by the handle but Ollose never gave her a chance. He ran up to her, grabbed her by the back of the neck with one of his powerful arm/legs, slammed her head down, face first onto the barbed blade. He repeatidly slammed her head up and down onto the blade. He gave her one last slam as he pointed toward me, "Ceddes, you better show me something that dosn't want to make me kill you all, right here, right now!"

I reached my hand toward the rack of stun sticks and quickly levitated one of them to my hand. Ollose walked over to his original position, in front of the line, and pointed his stun stick at Shirtless. He was standing up but his face was swollen, bloody, and red. Red from the blood and from the infection. Ollose then pointed his stun stick toward the female student with the large forehead. Her eyes were swollen shut as well as her nose. She had to breath out of her mouth or else she'd suffocate. He had a large grin on his face, "C'mon kid. This is the real deal. Did you figure out which lightsaber form you want to learn? You are fast and agile. Maybe Ataru? Or perhaps the more technical, Makashi? You have quite a wit about you. Maybe you'd like to learn some of Dun Möch?"

I got into my normal, starting battle stance by pointing my stun stick toward him. The blade was heavier than a lightsaber and not quite as well balenced but it was a well enough substitute. I looked at him with an emotionless look on my face as I answered, "I've decided to learn from them all and make my own form."

He chuckled, "Bold aren't you? What you want is imposable."

That wasn't true. Master Tal was a master at "Djem So" but he had incorporated many different techniques of other forms into his art. He had already taught me a few things about the fourth form: Ataru, the more aggressive and agile form and also a few things about the third form: Soresu, the more defensive form. Of course I also knew Shii-Cho. The first and most basic form. It was sort of the stock form that Jedi learned as younglings. I already knew many different aspects of three out of the seven main forms. Learning techniques from all forms wasn't at all out of the realm of possibility. I shook my head at him, "You are wrong."

Vedalt'e laughed, "Good. Prove me wrong then!"

I couldn't tell if he was testing me or not. He may have just been telling me I couldn't do something, just to push me harder into doing it. If that was true, and if he didn't have those explosive and violent bursts, he'd have made a good Jedi Master. Vedalt'e twirled his stun stick in front of him, "Lets go. Sword-to-sword, no force tricks."

I nodded in agreement, "Very well."

Ollose leapt into the air toward me. As he did, the other students backed away from us, toward the walls. As Ollose started landing before me, he swept his stun stick over his head, aimed at my right shoulder. I took a few steps backward to parry his attack. As soon as he landed he began a thrusting motion, aimed at my ribs. I decided to avoid the defensive or evasive route and countered with the offensive insted. I leapt over his thrusting stun stick, and in mid air I brought my own stun stick down toward his head. I caught him off guard and nearly landed my blow but he was able to break his attack and roll away from my strike.

When I landed on the ground I began a new attack with a quick swipe toward his center body. It wasn't meant to strike him. It was meant to force him to go into the defensive. His agile and unorthodox style was form four, Ataru. One of the weaknesses of Ataru was prolonged battles so the longer this duel went, the more the battle started favoring me. He blocked my swipe and we exchanged a quick flurries of strikes and blows. Each time our stun sticks clashed together, they made a large whip-crack sound. Those whip-cracks echoed through out the entire arena room.

Both of us were getting short on breath as we continued our series of leaps, strikes, and thrusts. I had made a mistake. I wanted to combat him in a lengthy battle due to his Ataru form, but in doing so I had inadvertently converted my own battle style into Ataru as well. So this lengthy battle was weakening both of us at the same rate... which favored Vedalt'e due to his experience. The only way I could save myself was to change my style into a more Djem So style, the defensive form. So rather than attacking I took a few steps back to catch my breath and waited for him to attack. He didn't hesitate to meet my challenge.

He leapt towards me and began a new series of attacks. I blocked each of his stun stick attacks with a clean and clear strike with my own stun stick. With each block I made, I took a step back and with each step I took back, I took a deep breath and with each breath I took, I was starting to regain some of my lost energy and stamina. Ollose noticed me taking those steps back and thought he could back me up against a wall and corner me. He thought I was unaware of my surroundings but he was wrong. When I got close enough to the room's wall I leapt backward and pushed my feat against the wall, propelling me into the air. Ollose was a bit surprised but not for long. As I was in the air he jumped up and took a swipe at my neck. I twirled my body into a corkscrew motion to avoid his attack.

I landed a meter behind him, toward the center of the room. I was ready to begin my Djem So form again so I could exhaust him while keeping my stamina level. He knew my strategy and was growing frustrated and angry. Against his own rules, he used the force to levitate the stun stick that struck Shirtless and the female student in the head into his hands. He had two stun sticks now, against my one. I shook my head and grinned, "Never trust a Sith, eh?"

He nodded, "That's right. No limitations!"

He leapt at me and swiped his stun sticks toward me. Rather than blocking his attack with my saber, I rolled underneath his airborne body, toward the outside wall of the room, right next to Shirtless. I was all the way across the room from the wall with the rack of stun sticks built into it, and Ollose now stood between me and that rack. I was about to play by his rules. I outstretched my hand toward the rack and summoned every stun stick on that rack. They all flew toward me, and toward Ollose. He was caught off guard and had to force push them away from him, back toward the rack, before they hit him. This distraction caused an opening.

I started to charge at him and deal my final blow on the distracted Dug Sith Lord, but I was also caught off guard. Not by Ollose... but by Shirtless. He reached out and grabbed onto my arm causing me to break my attack. I had to spin around and force push the idiot off of me and into the wall. I quick spun around to attack Ollose again but he had already regained himself and attacked me. This time I couldn't block it and his stun stick struck me across the back. If it was real lightsaber, I'd be dead. Death was replaced by the feeling of a stinging, burning pain in my back. I took a knee in defeat, and pain, and lowered my head to Ollose, "I am defeated."

I looked over and stared lasers at Shirtless. Who still had a red, puffy face but now had a pained smile on his face. I could feel the Sithrimi pulling at my emotions. I cold feel my hate for Shirtless swell inside of me. I would have won this duel if not for him. A brief image of me piercing him with a real lightsaber flashed in my mind but I was able to put that thought behind me. I forced myself to turn my attention to Ollose who was laughing, "Never has a neophyte posed such a threat to me before at this level, well done. But don't expect it to happen again."

I curled my upper lip in anger and disappointment, "That... I can't do. I will defeat you."

Ollose smiled down at me, "Good... good."

Dang it. I had given into a touch of the darkside. I wouldn't allow it. I forced myself to stand up, in spite of the pain in my back. Standing tall, I looked down at him, "I think that was... an exiting match we had."

He seemed a little confused by my sudden change of attitude, but only for a moment. He quickly went back to his cheerful self, "Yes, yes! I noticed how you changed form in mid-battle. You may prove me wrong yet." Olosed looked over to one of the walls and pointed to another student, "YOU! It's your turn!" and that was that. My turn to prove myself had ended. I think I did it successfully too. The light in me told me I did not have to win to succeed. The dark inside me though... told me to get revenge on Shirtless. The Laan inside me... told me to get revenge on Shirtless... but do it with style.

I watched and waited the other students get beat down by Vedalt'e. The Nautolan was the only one to last very long against Vedalt'e. He seemed to fight with a cross between form one, the basic form, and form two, the more fluid and strong form. This Nautolan was pretty muscular. More so even than I. He fought with a calm presence about him. He seemed to get nervous at points of the battle but he never let it effect him too much in battle. He lost when Vedalt'e faked a leap into the air and rather than jumping, he dropped to the ground and swiped at the Nautolan's knees. He fell to the ground and Ollose finished him off by slapping the stick against his chest with a whip-crack.

It appeared that out of this group, the Nautloan was the largest competition... and Shirtless was just a nuisance. Everyone else was just there. They didn't stand out at all. That's probably what I should have been doing. Staying in the shadows while I tried to find something out about the Sith. I couldn't do that though. I had already caught the eye of Ollose, Bast, and Phyress. If I disappointed them I'd end up in a duel of fates in the Sith arena and I didn't want that.

--

Hyarsythe fourth floor; cafeteria. After an easy morning with Bast and a rough afternoon with Ollose Vedalt'e it was the end of day one. The cafeteria was pretty big and surprisingly clean. The walls were white. The ceiling and floor was light gray in color. The tables were small with only one or two chairs to each table. Sith were loners after all, for the most part. Some students did sit together though. Some Sith did have alliances. Uneasy alliances, but alliances none the less. On the opposite side of the room of where the central lift brought students up to the cafeteria, there was a long serving station where students would stand in line to get their food. The serving station, the tables, and the chairs were all made of stainless steel. It was a pretty big room and a bit noisy. Since all students ate supper at the same time it would have to be big.

I stood in line with a stainless steel tray in my hands and feeling back into my back, though still a bit sore. I stood behind a large, hairy Wookie in line. He had three trays for food. Wookies ate allot! When we got to the serving station I got a good look, and smell of the food. Some of it looked and smelled wonderful... others looked and smelled awful. There are allot of species inside Hyarsythe so there were many types of food choices. Some of it still alive. Some of it just looked like it was alive. The Wookie went with three trays of deep fried nerf meat. When it was my turn I noticed a tray of white meat in an orange sauce. I took some of that and some cooked vegetables. The serving droid, the same model as the one that delivered me my weekly schedule earlier today, scooped some food onto my tray and went on to the next person in line.

(note: a nerf: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/creature/nerf/img/eubg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

Now to find a seat. I took my try of mystery food, I hope it isn't alive, and walked toward the tables. Most of the tables were already taken since I was near the end of the line. I noticed an area near the back of the room with cushioned seating and larger tables. There I saw the twins Kali and Mori sitting together along with a few other stronger and more confident looking students. I assumed those seats were for advanced students. I was stuck in the average seating though. I saw Shirtless, with a less swollen face, sitting with a group of other students that pushed their tables and chairs together. They looked like a group of scruffy street urchins trying to look intimidating to the other students. The weak had flocked together. It was a huge mistake. It was like announcing to everyone, "Here we are, weak and can't survive on our own. Target us, yeah us right here!"... I was starting to think like a Sith which made me nervous... but it was sort of obvious.

After walking down an aisle of tables, I noticed the Nautolan sitting by himself. Why not? I walked over to his table and sat down at the chair across from him. He looked up from his platter of fish and noodles and stared at me with his large, black, unblinking eyes. He seemed confused. I just grabbed a fork clipped to my tray and stabbed a piece of orange meat with my fork, "I hope this stuff is good."

He cocked his head to the side, "Uhh... excuse me..."

I extended my free hand to him, "Ceddes Nemea."

He looked at my hand as though it was toxic or something, "What?"

"My name... sorta." I said with a self amused grin on my face.

He continued staring at me as I put the white meat into my mouth... it tasted... great. Moist white meat, some sort of bird, in a spicy-sweat sauce. Great food, as much as I hated to admit it, this was one point for the Sith. I pointed my fork toward my food, "This stuff is good. How 'bout yours?"

"Cut the act. What do you want?" He asked with a dead serious tone of voice..

I sat back in my chair... and felt a sudden pain from the bruise on my back left by the stun stick and decided it was best to sit forward. I looked at him, "Hey, think about it. We are by far the two best students in our group, right?"

He snickered, "Obviously."

I chuckled back, "But as weak as they are," I pointed to the group of weak students sitting in the group, "They are trouble. Just look at what Shirtless did to me by himself."

He smiled and laughed, "Shirtless?... Yeah, he got you pretty good. It's your own fault though. You should have sensed him attacking you. You got careless, buddy."

He was right. I was focused on Ollose and didn't pay attention to Shirtless. I shrugged my shoulders, "Ehh... Fair enough. But think about it. You and I arn't typical Sith. We're not as... agrresive-"

"-and stupid." He added.

"And stupid," I agreed, "Throw in the fact that we're the best in class..."

"We're targets." He concluded.

I smiled and gave a single nod of the head, "That's right."

"What are you suggesting?" He asked before he took another bite out of his food.

"An alliance." I said simply, "An example, look at today. I'm in a duel and you notice Shirtless making a move toward me-"

"I force push the fool on his butt." He laughed.

If it wasn't for the whole him being a Sith student and me trying to destroy the Sith, I think we'd be friends. I just laughed and re-extended my hand toward him, "Now, Ceddes..."

He reached out and shook my hand, "Ty'Vayne is my name."

After that, we went back to eating our food in silence. It was awkward sitting and eating with someone who may or may not be an ally. I'm sure we both had the same idea. The other could be an ally, a true ally, but most likely one thought the other was trying to manipulate the other... it was confusing but it was a harsh truth. I decided to break the awkwardness, or possibly just add to it, by asking, "So... as a Nautolan do you come from Glee Anselm?"

He nodded his head as he swallowed some food, "Yup. Born and raised... Do you really want to learn about my past?"

I shrugged and nodded, "Sure, why not?"

"You first." He said, "Why did you join the Sith?"

I sighed, "Ah... well. I was once a Jedi padawan... then I was kicked out for... bad behavior to say the least. I lived on my own since then and decided to give the Sith a try after I killed an enitre unit of Sith."

"Interesting..." He said.

I nodded, "Yup. Now you."

"All right," He said, "Basically, I grew up in a family of warriors and farmers. My family helped fight the Anselmi for the small amount of land on Glee Anselm. I wasn't really into hand-to-hand combat though. I liked the idea of piloting ships, more than direct fights. The Nautlolan didn't really like using fighters in their battles. Nautloan belong in the waters not the air. But then I started to realize I was different. You know, the force and all. I went to the Jedi but they said I was too old to train. The Sith accepted me though. They are helping me understand about this thing inside of me."

If what he said was true, I wasn't at all surprised. Jedi only accepted young ones for training. When they get older, the less likely they are able to remain on the path of light... or something like that. It's not Vayne's fault he is older and he shouldn't be penalized for it. It was one of those things that I felt that the Jedi needed to change. I doubted that would ever happen though. At least not any time soon. This information made me think though. I thought that maybe, if the Sith was his last option. Maybe I could help him. Save him from the dark. Could I do that though? Was I capable? I wasn't a Jedi and I was already struggling with my current task at hand. Could I really help him? Or was this just an act of manipulation on his part? Or could he help me with my task? Argh! I couldn't think about it right now. I'd just have to figure out a plan to get my current mission done... then I could think about it later...


	7. Chapter 8: Codes of the Force

Please read and review. I did as much research as I could for this chapter and I hope I didn't get the facts too wrong.

Zade laid sprawled out on the top of his Jedi Starfighter. As he laid there he patted his droid, P3-TP on the domed skull with his right hand. With his left hand, he held a small, long distance comlink. With the help of P3-TP and his starfighter's long distance transmission dish, Zade was able to use his small comlink to communicate from the hanger in Fifth District, to the Jedi Temple in Coruscant. Zade was talking with the Klatooinian Jedi Master, Sarval-Styr. Zade listened as Sarval-Styr was talking to him. Through the comlink his voice sounded distorted and electronic, "...and you already sent your findings to the council?"

Zade sighed as he spoke into the comlink, "Unfortunately, yes. I was ordered to do so by the council. I'm sending the same findings to you as well. It appears to be some sort of grand Sith battle station. I trust you with this information more than the pestiferous council."

"The council has gone too far now. They needlessly put your life in danger and they did so intentionally. It's no different than murder." Sarval sounded upset.

Zade was also upset, "Their tactics are callow, childish. They are intoxicated by their power and when they can't get their way... they handle it with childish measures. I feel...," Zade said with great hesitation, "I feel as though... something must be done. They are just not a danger to the Jedi but also a danger to innocent lives."

"I agree." Sarval paused for a little while before continuing, "What would you think Master Ra... oh, sorry, Zade. Zade, what would you think if Master Quint and myself gathered a few supporters. We'll all get together when you return and discuss how, well... how to go about things. Of course, we will have to do this without the knowledge of the council."

Zade sat up, atop his starfighter, "Behind their backs?"

Master Sarval-Styr responded, "We have no choice. They are destroying the Jedi. Imagine what they would do if they knew of what we are planning. They'd get us all killed."

"I understand this, " Zade told him, "But all of this, this doesn't seem like Jedi traditions."

"And the way things stand now are?" Sarval countered, "We must face the facts. As things stand right now, the way of the Jedi... it just can't exist right now. Jedi are guardians but sometimes they must also be warriors. That time is now."

Zade thought back to his favorite, though less known, form of the Jedi code and repeated it to Master Sarval-Styr;

"Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy.

Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect.

Jedi respect all life, in any form.

Jedi serve others rather then ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.

Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training."

Both Jedi Masters sat in silence after Zade finished reciting the code. Finally Zade spoke into his comlink, "We are guardians no more, we are a military. Our powers are used as weapons rather than shields. Life is wasted without honor or meaning. We the Jedi Knights, Masters, and apprentices are ruled over by the majority of the council who serve selfish principles. As for improvement through knowledge? There is only power over the weak. This is the way the Jedi are right now. Not much unlike the Sith. I understand it now. I understand that... to restore our ideals and traditions... we must fight for them."

"It would seem that chaos is the only solution now." Sarval said with a somber tone.

"It is a mutiny... I'm afraid." Zade took a deep breath and calmed himself through the force before giving Sarval the order, "Gather supporters... try not to get caught. I'll return as soon as possible... may the force be with you."

"As you." Sarval responded before ending their long range conversation.

Zade switched his comlink off and clipped it to his belt. He looked over to his left and forced a smile to his droid, "Well, TP, how dose it feel to be part of what will go down as one of the darkest moments in Jedi history?"

The droid just spun it's head around and beeped. Zade could understand what the droid meant by it's movements and tone of beeps. They shared the same thought. This was going to be a nightmare... to say it in more civilized words...

--

I stood in the center of the cave like room inside Hyarsythe's second floor. It was my third day at Hyrsythe and so far, surprisingly, I wasn't doing that bad. I had a somewhat easy time avoiding the dark side techniques that Bast taught. Mainly because I knew the light side version of each technique so Bast didn't even think of teaching me the dark version of those attacks. Ollose's class however was probably the best part of Hyarsythe, except for maybe their food.

Ollose was teaching me the basics of every form and it was going very well. I seemed to be a quick learner and this was something I could use even after I left Hyarsythe, unlike the dark side skills. There were a few optional classes that I didn't take part in, like pilot training. I was already a good pilot but Vayne was taking the class and doing pretty well at it.

As for my mission to find out about the Sith, I was making a small amount of progress. I found out that on the sixth floor there was a control room with, what I assumed, all kinds of Sith secrets kept hidden inside of it. Not surprisingly, the student's didn't have access to the sixth floor. Only the Sith Lords, Sith commanding officers, and a few advanced students could gain entry into that floor. That gave me two options to get into that room... become an advanced student or hack into it from an outside source. Both options had very big draw backs. The first option would mean that I'd probably have to fall to the dark side to become an advanced student. I didn't want that. The other option was even more troublesome. I wasn't even sure if there was an outside source to hack into... and if there was I'd probably get caught doing it. So I'd either have to forget about the sixth floor and find something else to look for, or find another way into that floor.

Right now I couldn't worry about that. I stood in the cave like gymnasium, talking to Vayne, as we waited for Bast to arrive and begin class. So far our alliance had been working well. Shirtless and his gang had gotten in my way a few times but Vayne backed me up. vayne was either a good guy caught up in a bad situation or he was a good manipulator. Vayne had a big smile on his face as we talked, "Three days until we get to witness our first arena day."

"Arena Day", was just one of the names the students gave the days when there was no class and everyone gathered at the arena. We had one of those in three days. I pounded my right palm into my left palm, "Yeah. I'm sure the two of us will be challenged by the Lord's to participate."

Vayne grinned as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Maybe, even against each other. We are tops in this class after all."

I shook my head, "Nah. They usually go for even match-ups and with a lightsaber you are no match for me, junior."

Vayne's smile vanished and was replaced with a lighthearted scowl, "Yeah, maybe. But if we met in the skies I'll shoot you down faster than you could ignite a lightsaber."

I never told him I was a good pilot but I'm sure with his potential he could defiantly be a better pilot then me someday. Not now though. I pointed my index finger at my chest, "Me? You think you're a better pilot than me? Maybe. Maybe, we'll find out one day but for now there is no Arena Day for pilots."

Vayne must have noticed my necklace when I pointed to myself, "What's with the jewelry?"

I didn't respond. I just took my necklace that I got in Soundy-Dail and tucked it back into my black body glove. A few seconds later a door slid open and Bast walked into the room. Vayne and I joined the other sudents into the same old line. Bast stood infront of us with a cruel glint in his eyes. He chuckled to himself as crossed his arms over his chest, "Caaan anyone tell meee the Sith code?"

Nobody answered. I had no idea what the Sith code was. I heard from other Jedi that it was a direct contract to one of earlier forms of the Jedi code. After waiting in silence Bast continued, "The Sith cooode is more than jussst wordsss, more thaaan a motto. I'v yooou understand the meaning o'v thisss code, it will be a guiding beacon to the truuue power of the v'orce, thhhe dark side of the v'orce." He then went on to recite the Sith code...

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

Through passion, I gain strength.

Through strength, I gain power.

Through power, I gain victory.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The Force shall free me.

It truly was a direct contrast to the older, refined version of the Jedi code;

There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

There is no emotion, there is peace. Jedi are not immune to emotion but they do they do believe that they should be set aside. Unless a Jedi can confront his thoughts and feelings and understand them, he will never achieve peace. Emotions, are not to be overcome or denied, but rather understood and dealt with.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion. The Sith believe that passion, that emotion is truth. Passions are what kept all creatures alive. It was like what Phyress told me before. Passion and emotion was the basic status of the universe and to deny it, was denying basic instinct and true power. They believed the Jedi as denying their natures and afraid of the truth around them.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. A Jedi must always use circumspection and try to understand the universe that is surrounding them. Jedi must keep an open mind and have the ability to accept what other beings would tend to see as unacceptable.

Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Understanding how to use one's emotions was the main philosophy that the Sith were based around. The Sith knew how to harness their passion and emotion into frightening power. To the Sith, without passion one couldn't truly understand the ways of the true force, the dark side. Force is power.

There is no passion, there is serenity. A Jedi must draw his weapon only in defense. While emotions and intuition must be understood and utilized in a Jedi's daily life, he must never act rashly. Passionate use of power leads to the dark side. A Jedi must always act with a calm hand and an even temper.

Through power, I gain victory. The Sith did not believe that victory by any means was desirable, but believed that unless victory proved your superiority, it was an illusion and temporary. Sith dogma taught that unless the victory was achieved by demonstrating that one's power was superior it was not true victory. The stronger a Sith became in the Force, the more power they could achieve, but they always had to fight for that power.

There is no chaos, there is harmony. Jedi do not deny the fact that tragic and terrible things happen, they merely point out that tragedy is simply another part of life. While some see sorrow and tragedy in the workings of the universe, through the Force, a Jedi is able to interpret and understand even the most painful of life's events. Death is all a part of life. Minor inconveniences such as failure, disappointment, and disagreement are also inevitable and should be understood and accepted.

Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. The chains represented a being's restrictions, not just a Sith but any being in the universe. The restrictions could be those placed upon a being by someone else, or restrictions that one placed upon oneself. The ultimate goal of any Sith was to free himself from such restrictions and achieve supremacy among all else.

There is no death, there is the Force. A Jedi must always be ready for death. As a warrior not only in combat but also in day-to-day life, it is easy to fail and fall. The sense of loss is often even greater for one who feels it with the Force. Death, however, is not a tragedy and is merely a part of the life cycle. Without death, life could not exist. The Force in us, still lives on after we die. Jedi do not fear death nor do they mourn it overmuch; a Jedi, after all, must celebrate death if he is to also celebrate life.

I disagreed with many parts of both codes. I believe that one should embrace emotions, but not manipulate them. One should mourn death of loved ones, but not to dwell on it. I am still young though and I'm not sure if what I believe in was the truth or not. For the most part though, I agreed with the Jedi code. Though, I've noticed that even the strongest Jedi Master and darkest Lord of the Sith, often both stray from their own codes every now and then.

It wasn't until I compared the two codes that I realized I was constantly comparing the Sith to the Jedi as if I was still a padawan. I wasn't. I wasn't a Jedi anymore... I was never a Jedi, only an apprentice. I looked at the ways of the Jedi as the truth but that wasn't who I was anymore... maybe that was never who I was. As much as I hated to admit it, I was more Sith than Jedi. I wasn't in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, I was in Hyarsythe on Apsus. I wasn't surrounded by trustworthy Jedi, I was surrounded by the nefarious Sith. A brief and frightening thought popped into my mind. What if I just joined the Sith? What if I quit trying to find a way destroy them and just joined them? No, I thought of the past. I thought of Darth Vultous killing my Master, a man like my father. The Sith slaying innocent life, that seeker unit that killed Wire's parents and tried to kidnap her brother, Riveth. I could never become that... I wouldn't. The fact that it crossed my mind made me more nervous than I'd been in six years, standing before the corrupt Jedi council. I knew going into this that I could fall to the dark side and I was willing to risk it, or at least at that time I was willing to.

Bast turned his back to us, "That isss all v'or today. Nothinggg morrre. You ssshould reflect onnn the code. V'ind (Find) it'sss meannning. Ussse it to v'ind (find) your paaath."

He exited out of the room via a door built into the rocky wall and left us standing in that line. I was still partly lost in my own thoughts when Shirtless broke my concentration. A few students left to go to their living quarters but Shirtless and the others in his gang remained. Shirtless and his gang had large, cocky grins on their faces as they grouped together and stared at Vayne and I. Vayne nudged me in the side, "Can you believe these guys?"

I was almost in a trance like state when he asked me that. I just slowly shook my head in silence and stared walking toward the lift that would take me to my quarters. Shirtless didn't like me turning my back to him as I walked away and decided to make trouble. He ran in front of me and blocked my path. Vayne was going to help me out but then his gang members decided to get in his face. Shirtless pointed the palm of his hand toward me, "I'm stronger now. I've been practicing!"

The thoughts, the fear of me falling to the dark side still remained in my mind. The Sithrimi had begun altering that fear into a mild madness. I could feel it. I rubbed the palm of my hand against my forehead, trying to send calming thoughts to my mind but I couldn't concentrate! I couldn't think calmly! My mind felt claustrophobic inside my own head. My skull felt like a cage trapping my conscious. My fear had altered into anger. What was I angry about? Myself? Shirtless? Argh! I couldn't contain it. All I could hear was the feint taunts from Shirtless. Everything else was just clutter.

Then Shirltess made the mistake of trying to force push me with his open palm. I could feel the wave of the push coming toward me. I went to tap into the force to defend myself but as I did I could feel this cluttered anger inside me burst out all at once. I swiped my hand out in front of me. As I did I released the powers of the force in such immense power that it ripped through his force push like a lightsaber through paper. This release of my anger was freeing, therapeutic. A mad smile ran across my face, "Is that all, junior?"

He just stood thier in a defiant, yet startled stance. I reached my right hand out and tapped into a touch of darkness. I used these fingers, these invisible fingers of the force and I wrapped them around his neck. I had never done anything like this before but it felt second nature to me. I was choking him just like Bast did a few days earlier. I didn't want to let go though. He was a nuisance. I grit my teeth together and spoke in a soft whisper that only I could hear, "I will never become like you... I won't become you!"

When I saw his face turn purple and his body start to go limp... I lost it. I took a deep breath and regained my normal self. I let go of my grip on him and let his body drop to the ground. I stood there as he gasped for breath and held onto his throat. I couldn't believe what I'd done. I fell victim to the Sithrimi and to myself. I felt a slight tingling behind me. I turned around and saw Bast's silhouette standing in that distant doorway, watching the whole thing. I'm sure he was pleased by my sudden progress in the dark side and my altered persona. My stomach felt empty, sick. I wasn't going to become what he wanted...

--

I sat in my room, at the edge of my bed. I had another hour before my next class began and I needed to relax myself. I sat there cross legged with my eyes closed. My hands were gripping onto the Lanoul wolf pendant on my necklace. I was doing a calming meditation. I reached out and grabbed onto the feeling that I had back on Soundy-Dail when my friends bought me this necklace. I tried amplifying that feeling. Anything to calm myself and steady my emotions.

I couldn't believe how I acted earlier. I used a dark side attack against someone. Worse yet, it was a dark side attack that I was never taught. It was something that some advanced students didn't even know how to preform. It was... it was like I knew it all along. Like a humanoid breathing or a dog wagging it's tail, it just happened without my conscious knowing about it. At least I was aware of it now. This was all knew to me. This was nothing I'd ever experienced before in my life. Now I knew what to be aware of. I could understand the warnings. I knew what to avoid. Hopefully.

The thought of me betraying the Jedi was one of said warnings. Now that I was back to my normal self, I could reason with myself. I wasn't a Jedi, never was, never will be. That didn't mean I couldn't side with them. Granted, I didn't agree with many of there traditions, such as abandoning family. However, I still believe the Jedi are the true guardians of the force and the galaxy but the Sith are a corrupt virus that plagues everything. Nothing would change my thinking about them. After all... even if the worst happened, if I did fall to the dark side. Just because I may fall into the dark it didn't mean I would have to be a Sith to do so. The Sith are just... just a cult that used the dark side as a tool. At least that is what I was telling myself.

If they were so powerful they would have taken over the galaxy by now. Every time the Sith began an uprising, eventually they are brought down. I played a major part in the last time that it happened and hopefully I'd do it again. Sometimes the Sith even vanish from the galaxy when they are defeated only to show up years later. The Sith struggle to stay alive. The Jedi are always. If the Sith were so much more powerful than the Jedi, that wouldn't be the case.

I wasn't sure how much of this was the truth or how much of it was just me trying to put a spin on things to reason with myself. I didn't care, I was making some good points. In doing so, I was starting to feel better. That tension and remaining anger just lifted away and I felt like regular old Laan again. A smile crept across my face as I stood up from my bed and placed the necklace back around my neck where it belongs. I looked over to my room's chrono (note: chrono, basically just another name for a clock) and noticed what time it was. There was only four minuets until my lightsaber training began. I must have been meditating longer than I realized. So I ran out my room and toward the lift that would take me to the fifth floor. Today Ollose was going to teach me about the second form.

--

Inside of Phyress Lokindr's dark loft. Phyress sat in her throne surrounded by the errie candlelight. She had different raiment on. She had thin, black platting covering her body and a black hood covering her head. She sat there as she watched the lift's doors open and her two Sith Lords, Lord Vedalt'e and Lord Zephyrus step into the room. The two walked from the lift and into the candlelight, before Lokindr. Both gave her a slight bow of the head out of respect for her position. In truth the three hated each other and were in constant competition with one another for that position and Phyress was on top. She was granted the position as headmaster of Hyarsythe by Darth Vultous. Darth Vultous usually only promoted woman into higher Sith ranks, including Phyress. Male Sith Lords like Bast and Ollose took exception to this. They hated it even more now that even six years after Vultous had fallen, Phyress remains in power over Hyarsythe.

Phyress clasped her hands together and rested her chin on them, "Well, hello my friends. Three days until the, Arena Day, as the students like to call it. Are there any students of interest?"

Ollose nodded his head and spoke with a mildly shrill tone of voice, "A few. For me, there are two in particular. Both are neophytes, surprisingly. I think I may eventually take one as a new apprentice."

Phyress laughed, "Oh? You found a new one? Hopefully this one doesn't meet the same fate as your last one, Vedalt'e... and Zephyrus. We wouldn't them to fall before my Kali and Moyi like your past failures."

Bast grumbled, "Yesss, yesss. Your two pets arrre good, Looord Lokindr but they can be beatennn. I believe I have alsooo found a v'ew (few) worthyyy, potential, apprenticesss."

An apprentice for these three wasn't the same as a Jedi apprentice. No, these apprentices were used as tools, weapons in their feud. If you had a stronger apprentice then it meant you were a stronger teacher. The general feeling was that when the right apprentice was found, they and their master would destroy the other two and take over Hyarsythe... or maybe even more. Phyresss decided to take two apprentices, the twins Kali and Moyi. Both twins had slain Ollose and Bast's apprentices, only two arena days ago. Now they were looking for new ones.

"Who are these students you speak of?" Phyress asked.

"Why?! Do you plan on getting to them before arena day?" Ollose shouted in response to her question.

She chuckled, "Maybe. Dont' forget, boys, I am in charge here and you will obey me!"

Both Bast and Ollose exchanged angered glances before apologizing. Ollose bowed his head to her, "Forgive me. I'm going to have neophyte Mun Orlen and neophyte Nemea duel. Both are skilled with a stun stick and could well surpass even I with a lightsaber. I shall take the winner as my apprentice."

Bast seemed taken back a bit, "Nemea? Ceddesss Nemea?"

Ollose snickered, "Why, was he going to be your apprentice?"

Bast just grumbled to himself as Phyress stood up from her throne, "Oh? The former Jedi padawan is skilled in both arts? Interesting."

Ollose ignored Phyress and continued taunting Bast, "Oh, don't worry Bast. You can have Nemea if he looses the duel. Besides, I'm not even sure that I want to take an apprentice just yet."

Bast clenched his fists, "Bah! Nemeaaa is just a neov'yte (neophyte). I'v (If) you want a neov'yte for youuur apprentice that isss your owwwn foolish choice, Vedalt'e."

Ollose just continued laughing under his breath. Phyress clapped her hands together to get their attention, "Now, now. We'll find everything out three days from now. You two can argue about whoever you want... I on the other hand... have my own plans for this arena day."


	8. Chapter 9: Padawan

Please read and review and if you'd like, check out my homepage, /darthbraun/

Master Sarval-Styr stood in the Jedi temple's hanger. He stood atop a round, central platform suspended over rows of Jedi Starfighters. Each fighter differed in color and shape, though most Jedi kept their fighters the standard, sleek, wedge shape. The hanger doors slid open as a blue starfighter with small, crescent shaped wings on each of the ship's sides flew into the hanger. Sarval recognized it to be Master Rad'hyth's fighter. Sarval took a few steps back so the ship could easily land onto the platform. The fighters levitated briefly before lowering down onto the platform's flat surface.

A few mechanics clad in thick, orange overalls ran over to the ship. Two of them removed P3-TP, Zade's droid, from his compartment built into the ship's left side and placed him onto the ground. The droid rolled around on his little wheeled feat as Zade popped the canopy of his fighter open. Zade had a big smile on his face as he saw his droid acting like a little human child after he just got home from long, boring travels. Sarval walked over to Zade and gave him a bow of the head, "Welcome back, Zade."

"Thanks. Did you take a look at the data I sent you?" He asked, getting right down to business.

Sarval nodded his head, "Yes. However, I believe we should speak in private. Right away."

Zade looked over to the mechanics and understood, "Ah, I see. Well lets go then."

As the two Jedi Masters began walking from the hanger, TP began to fallow them. Zade turned around and signaled for the droid to stop, "Sorry, TP. The less you knew, the better."

TP whistled it's disappointment before wheeling itself over to the mechanics. Probably off to get an oil bath. Saravl led Zade out of the hanger, through a long hallway, and into an abandoned room. The abandoned room looked like it was once a living quarters for someone. The room and a reddish-brown in color with a black, round, sunken living room. Near the back of the room there was a personal refresher for the room's last residant. Other than that it was empty. Sarval sat down into the sunken sofa-like-seat in the center of the room, "This room has long been empty. All I know is a Jedi Master once lived here and for some reason, it was never occupied again."

Zade sat down in the round sofa, across from Sarval, "Probably because of it's location. It's near the hanger and no where near anything else signifigant."

"That's why it's perfect. Far away from the council's eyes and ears." Sarval told him.

Zade stood up from his seat, "That reminds me, I should really report to the council. I'm sure they know I've returned. They probably can't wait to dump something else on me."

Sarval nodded his head, "Ah, yes. Zade, before you leave, there is something else I should tell you."

"Yes?" Zade asked, he could feel that this wasn't good news.

Sarval sighed, "When Master Quint and I were gathering supporters... Master Kol'Tyuk of the council overheard Master Quint talking to other Jedi about their disapproval of the council. Both Master Quint and the Jedi Knights she were talking to were sent away. I believe they were ordered to assist the Republic in a ground battle against the Sith. I've yet to hear back from either of them. I'm unaware if they are still alive or not."

"I'm saddened, but not surprised." Zade said with a disappointed tone.

"The council," Sarval started, "is still unaware of our relationship with Master Quint and doesn't know about our... rebellion of sorts. However, I'm sure that they will assume we agree with Master Quint's ideals and may give us the same treatment. Both of us have made our disapproval of the council public. You more than anyone, Zade. You must be careful."

"I'm already the council's main nemesis within the order. There is no more being careful for me... I really must be leaving now." Zade said.

"What do you want me to do?" Sarval asked.

Zade stood their as he plotted, "Gather the supporters you've gathered so far, here in this room, tomorrow tonight. Hopefully, I'll be able to join you but the council may have other plans for me. If that's the case, Master Sarval-Styr, I'll leave you in charge of the meeting. At very least, I want a list of every supporter we have. We need to know our numbers."

Sarval nodded his head in agreement, "Very well. May the force be with you, Master Rad'Hyth."

Zade grunted, "Don't call me that..."

--

Zade sat in his chair inside the empty council room. He once felt proud and honored to be sitting in this chair, in this room. Now it felt like nothing but a bothersome, and some times dangerous chore. He watched as the other council members walked into the room and took their seats. None of them looked him in the eye. That was probably for the best, Zade couldn't stand looking at their faces. The faces of the people that were bringing the Jedi Order down into shambles. Zade just kept his head tilted down as he stared at the ground. He waited until the others took their seat and the meeting began. Klypso began, "Welcome back, Master Ra-"

Before she could welcome him, before she could speak his name in that mocking tone, Zade interrupted her "Yes. I am back, safe. Lets just get down to it. Did you review the data from the surveillance probe?"

She nodded her head, "Yes. We discussed it while you were away."

No surprise there. Zade kept his eyes staring at the ground, "And? What have you decided?"

She placed her hands on the arms of her chair and grinned, "Master Rad'hyth, before we talk about that we have something else we'd like to talk about."

Oh great, Zade thought to himself. He slumped his shoulders over and sighed, "Yes?"

Klypso forced a false look of sympathy on her face, "As you are aware the late Master Borru was a master of the Jar'Kai form."

Zade couldn't believe they'd dare speak the name of Master Borru. It was because of them that Borru met his fate at the battle above Hypori. Borru, like Zade, was a master of the Jar'Kai lightsaber form. Jar'Kai was an unorthodox duel lightsaber form and not considered one of the seven main forms. The user of the form had two lightsabers, one in each hand. Usually, those duel sabers were shorter than the average lightsaber. The form was based around using one saber for attack, the other for defense. It was a form not often used by Jedi because it was a form that would often push the user into using shades of the dark side. Only a few Jedi could truly handle the Jar'Kai form. In the current Jedi Order, Zade and Borru were the only ones capable in Jar'Kai. Now Zade was the only one that remained. Zade looked over to Klypso and stared her in the eyes, "Yes, I am aware."

Klypso continued, "Master Borru had a padawan, a Padawan Fennal. She was being trained by Master Borru in Jar'Kai and with his passing she has no one else to learn from."

Zade thought he understood, "Very well. I'll give her any advice and teachings I can."

"We were planning on more than that." Cled Amousous told him.

"More?" Zade had a feeling he knew where this was going and he didn't like it.

"We'd like you to take her as your padawan." Klyspo suggested.

Zade clenched his fists and frowned, "A padawan? I see. A member of the council cannot take a padawan."

Klypso nodded her head, "Yes. You would have to resign. Of course this is entirely your decision. We dont' want to pressure you into anything. However, I must add that if you don't accept we'll have no choice but to drop her from the order."

Zade shot up form his chair, "What? How can you drop her just like that?"

"Calm down." Cled shouted at Zade.

"You see," Klypso began, "Jar'Kai is a very dangerous form. It often results in the user falling to the dark side. The only way the council will continue accepting her as a padawan is if she has a Master skilled in Jar'Kai. You are the only one that fits that description."

They were using this padawan as a pawn. They had many other options but instead they were forcing Zade to decide her fate. He could refuse the offer and remain on the council but live with the guilt of knowing he let an innocent padawan pay for his choice. His other option was stepping down from the council and accepting the padawan as an apprentice. Now, while he was starting a rebellion against this council, this was not the time to take a padawan. He couldn't bring the padawan into this. But on the other hand he couldn't just abandon them either. He knew he could stand their and think about it all he wanted but no matter how much he thought about it, there was only one thing he could do. Zade took a deep breath, calming himself, and exhaled slowly before answering them, "Very well. I accept this apprentice."

Klypso had a large smile on her face. She and the council were finally rid of Zade, the thorn in their side. To Zade, it didn't matter. He thought about it and realized he couldn't do anything on the council being outnumbered eleven-to-one anyways. Zade crossed his arms over his chest, "I guess this means I will no longer be a bother to the council, but if I may ask? What is the council planning to do about this new Sith device, this tower?"

The smile remained on Klypso's face as she told him, "I'm sorry but this is for the council to decide. Master Rad'Hyth, you'll learn of our decision just as soon as the other Jedi."

He wasn't surprised, disgusted but not surprised. Without any further word Zade turned his back to them and walked out of the council room. He made a vow to himself that he would bring order and respect back to the council even if it was at the cost of his own life.

--

Zade stood before the doorway of his new room. After he "resigned" from the council, Zade was appalled to find that when he returned to his room, a room for council members, all of his things were already gone. The council moved all of his things to another room while he was gone. The council was taunting him. They never planned on asking him to take the padawan as an apprentice. It was just a false courtesy. If he refused the padawan in the first place, they were going to order him to accept the padawan anyways. A part of Zade was glad to be out of the council and away from their venomous corruption.

Zade hit a wall mounted button causing the front door of the room to slide open. At least the room wasn't too bad. The room was dark gray and red in color. The room had a bed in the center of the room, a refrigeration unit built into the southern wall, a nice window overlooking Coruscant on the northern wall, a closet was built into the eastern wall, and the private refresher, or bathroom, was built into the western wall. His baggage moved from his last room to this one was all piled near his bed.

Zade staggered over to the middle of the room and sat down at the foot of the bed. He removed his dark blue robe and tossed them to the floor. He reached down to his belt and removed the two lightsaber handles clipped to it and placed them on the bed's pillow. He then laid back onto the bed and closed his eyes. He tried not thinking about his frustrations, his anxiety, his tension. Unfortunately, that didn't last for long. He heard a beep followed by a voice that spoke through speakers built into the room, "Master Rad'hyth, it is requested that you come to lobby 3B as soon as possible. You have a visitor."

Zade sighed as he sat up from his bed. He wouldn't be allowed a moment of rest. Lobby 3B was just at the end of the hallway just outside his room. He left his room and made the short walk to the lobby. Lobby 3B was a circular shaped room with a protocol droid sitting behind a desk near the back of the room. Built in the center of the room was a fountain with cushioned seats placed around the circular fountain. At the bottom, pool section, of the fountain, many colorful and exotic fish swam around. Sitting on one of those seats, watching the fish, there sat a teenage girl. She appeared to be Pylianan.

This was the first time Zade had ever seen a Pylianan in person. The Pylianan are an exotic species made nearly extinct due to slave traders. The humanoid Pylianan are a favorite of slavers due to their slender builds, pale skin, colorful hair, and exotic looks. A century ago, after the Pylianan were fading from the universe, the Jedi managed to free large groups of Pylianan and together with the Republic gave them sanctuary on Coruscant. Since then the Plyianan had gained in numbers and began repaying the Republic by joining their military. They are amazing warriors known for thier speed and agility.

This teenage Pylianan had the same genetic slender build, the same genetic pale skin tone but with light-green, wavy, slashes tattooed on her body, dark greenish-blue hair and lips, slightly pointed ears, and emerald colored eyes. She appeared to be around sixteen standard years of age. Though he never met her before, he knew girl to be his new apprentice, Annoli Fennal. Borru had told Zade about her a few times before he passed on. She wore the dark red robes of a padawan though they seemed to be a few sizes too small. He guessed that she probably hadn't worn traditional padawan garb since before she was Master Borru's apprentice.

(Note: The plyianan are an original species so I don't have any pics to show.)

Zade began walking over to her with a sympathetic look on his face. She looked up from the fountain and saw him coming closer to her. She scoffed and turned her attention back to the fish in the fountain, ignoring Zade. He was taken back by her actions. He didn't like how this new relationship had started. At first he was puzzled by her attitude but he then realized why she may have held a grudge against him. To her knowledge he was still a council member. The same council that sent her Master to his untimely fate. She was probably unaware that Zade was acutely the only one on the council that tried to stop the attack that took Borru's life.

Zade contiued walking over to the fountain until he stood before her. She just turned her back away from him her body facing the fountain. She spoke first with a harsh tone of resentment, "So you're my new Master?"

"Yes." Zade said in a kind voice, "I understand how you must be feeling but these emotions are something a Jedi must push aside."

She spun around and stared up at him, "Understand?!"

"Forgive me," He said as he sat down next to her, "That wasn't the correct thing to say. I assume you are upset with me because I was a residing member of the council when your Master passed?"

She rolled her eyes and went back to watching the fish, "You don't know anything, do you Master?"

Zade was frustrated. Could he meet just one person that didn't take a tone of voice when they called him Master? Zade placed a hand on her shoulder, "You need to lose you're anger or else you-"

She interrupted him without taking her gaze away from the fish, "Master Borru knew that going to Hypori was a bad idea. He told me before the battle that he had a bad feeling about it and wouldn't allow me to join in the battle because of the dangers. He was right and he died and I lived. Nobody on the council listened, or even cared."

"I did." He told her, "I... I was the only one who sided with Borru. The council betrayed him though, and I was a member of the council at the time so if you must blame me, I'll accept that for now. However, you must learn to forgive to be a Jedi."

She seemed to loosen up just a bit, "You sided with Master Borru? Are you telling me the truth?"

"I'll let you decided on whether or not to believe me, to trust me, to accept me as a Master." He said before standing up, "I'll give you some time to think about it. Contact me when you've decided."

He took one step away from her before she stood up from the chair. She reached over and grabbed on to the sleeve of his tunic to stop him, "I guess... I guess I'll give you a try."

Zade chuckled, "Give me a try? Am I supposed to be pleased by that answer?"

"Err..." She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, "Sorry. I mean, I am your apprentice to teach, my Master."

He gave her a bow of the head with a smile on his face, "That's better."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Uhh, now what?'

A blank look appeared on his face, "Oh? Umm... I'm unsure myself."

She raised a disappointed eyebrow, "For a Master you seem to be a tad clueless, eh?"

"For an apprentice you seem to be a tad bit tactless, eh?" He countered.

That actually got a small smile out of her. Zade extended his hand, "I suppose we should introduce ourselves first. My name is Master Zade Rad'hyth. Please just call me Zade."

She shook his hand and forced a smile, "Annoli Fennal."

Zade began walking down the hallway, Annoli fallowed by his side, "I've had a tiring few days and could go for a nice warm meal. How about it?"

She shook her head, "I could go for that."

Brash, impudent, and probably cocky. Zade had his work cut out for him but to his surprise, he seemed to enjoy the outright and somewhat amusing tactlessness of Annoli opposed to the callow, malice of the council.

Zade and Annoli sat at an ornate, silver and glass table inside the Jedi Temple's cafeteria. Most of the cafeteria was empty due to it being an unusual eating hour. Zade was eating a bowl of warm "Engwui Potato Soup". Annoli wanted the same but Zade told her to get a, "Padawan Platter". It was an awful gray slop but it was very healthy for a growing pupil. Zade sat there enjoying his food, while Annoli used her spoon to play with her slop. She stared at it, "I haven't eaten this stuff in over a year."

"Oh?" Zade snickered, "That is too bad. That means you'll have to go through to process of acquiring the taste all over again."

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" She grumbled.

"Why, I'm insulted you would think that." He said with a grin. He took another sip of soup before asking her, "So why don't you tell me about yourself my apprentice?"

Ignoring her food she decided to open up to Zade, "Well, my biological family lives not to far away. To be honest, it makes it sort of hard on me knowing that the family I left behind are so close to me."

"I couldn't even imagine." Zade said sympathetically.

She continued, "So at a young age I was discovered and accepted by the Jedi. When I was training as a youngling in the Barki Clan I was passed over by Jedi Masters until I was twelve years of age. I almost reached the age of thirteen where I would no longer be able to be taken as a padawan. I started becoming, well, rebellious to the Jedi. I even attempted sneaking away from the temple once when I was caught by Master Borru. He scolded me harshly and told me that I'd better get my act together. The next day I was told that I was accepted by Master Borru and his new padawan. Apparently, he saw something in me. Other than that he never told me what made him decide to take me as an apprentice."

"I remember, he discussed his vision to take an apprentice with me that night he met you." Zade told her.

Her eyes grew wide and she had a genuine smile on her face, "Really? What did he tell you?"

Zade sat there with a stunned look on is face, "Oh, well. Lets just say... he knew he was undertaking a great task when he choose you."

She slumped back into her chair, "Ahh... well can't say as I blame him."

"He also mentioned that you were trying to learn Jar'Kai which was the ultimate factor in what led to him to choosing you. I should mention that I am also skilled in Jar'Kai." He said.

She perked up a bit, "Oh? That's good because I wasn't planning on changing my style."

Zade took notice of the light green tattoos on her arms and upper legs, "Might I ask about your tattoos? Are they traditional to your species or something?"

She shook her head, "No... it's sort of complicated. You see I know of four other Pylianan Force users in the past. Due to the tortured Pylianan background, they had allot of anger in their hearts and all ended up joining the Sith. I've seen old paintings of two of them and they both had black and red tattoos covering their bodies. It was a mark of the Sith back then to be tattooed with the colors of the Sith. So I wanted to show that I would be different from them and got green tattoos as a contrast to them."

"Interesting." Zade said, "Why green if I may ask?"

"I choose green tattoos because I wanted to deify the stereotype that Pylianan force users became Sith and went with a color that represented the Pylianan background." She explained.

"Hmm? Forgive my ignorance but what background is that?" Zade asked.

"The name of my species in an anceint tongue translates as, 'plant like'. Due to our green hair, green eyes, the our body build and everything. Our race is often associated with nature and plant life. So green was a natural choice." She explained, "So, why are you so interested in my tattoos anyways?"

"It's obvious you put some thought into them. I just wanted to know what those thoughts were. I need to know about you. About your thoughts, about your emotions, adout your skills. I need to know these things so I know what I need to teach you."

She nodded her head, "Oh. So then, what about you? Shouldn't I know what my Master is like?"

He sighed, "There isn't much to know about me. I grew up as a youngling, became a padawan, passed my final trials, and became a Jedi Knight at a fairly young age. A few years later I became a Master and even took an apprentice."

"You had another padawan before me? What happened to them?" She asked.

Zade sighed, "He fell to the lures of the Sith."

"Oh." She said with a sad tone, "He is a Sith."

"Was." Zade corrected her as he stared her into her eyes in all seriousness, "He no longer lives. I had to strike him down."

"Oh." She said again in awkwardness, "I See."

Zade crossed his arms over his chest with a stone cold look on his face, "This is why you must always keep a calm and forgiving attitude. These emotions are what became my last padawan's downfall."

"Got it." She said slowly and with a touch of fear in her voice.

"Don't worry, young one. Master Borru has already taught you well. Just keep on the path you're on and you'll be fine."

She lightened up, "Ok."

"After my padawan fell," He continued, "I spent a year in the wars and caught the attention of the council. When a spot became vacant I was invited to join the council. Looking back, they only wanted me on the council due to my work in the wars. They thought I was just bloodthirsty and brute as they were. They were wrong and I'm glad to be away from them."

She took a spoon full of the slop and forced it down her throat. She had a sickened look on her face, "So, ugh, so... umm you said you were once a council member? Like, past tense?"

"A member of the council cannot have an apprentice." He told her.

"Oh," She said, "Ohhh! You stepped down from the council just so you could be my Master?"

"Hmm... in a way. I was hesitant at first but it's nice not to be part of the council anymore. I'm sure the council feels the same about me. They were planning on ordering me to take you as an aprentice even if I refused. Don't get me wrong though, I accepted you before I knew that fact. To be honest with you though, you were a pawn used in thier game. They knew that no matter what I did or said, you would be their way to get rid of me." He told her before taking a sip of his soup.

Her shoulders slumped down and she sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no." Zade protested, "Forgive my words, that isn't what I meant to say. They've tried to get rid of me in other ways. Even putting my life in danger. In a way, you may have saved my life."

"The council is really that bad?" She asked in dismay.

"It hasn't always been this way... I assume. But it has been a nightmare since before I joined the council." He said as he forced a smile.

"Don't you think something should be done about them?" She asked.

Zade raised an eyebrow, "Is that what you really believe? Something should be done about them?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Don't you? I mean, dosn't it seem that they are sort of destroying the Jedi Order? They sound more like the Sith to me."

Zade smiled, "You know, padawan Fennal, this new Master-apprentice relationship may work out better than I first thought."


	9. Chapter 10: Arena Day

Okay a few things. Whenever I talk about a species of alien I usually give links to to to show a pic of the alien for those who are unaware of what they may look like. Well changed a bunch of their pages so I don't know if all of those links any more. So... since I'm got copying and pasting my original files those broken links may still appear in the story... so just ignore them... sorry about that. Actually with I don't think links even work... so just ignore them anyways... heh... oh and the usual, please read, review, and check my home page if you want.

Chapter 10: Arena Day

It was the day before the infamous, "Arena Day". I had no idea what to expect but I wasn't looking forward to any of it. Most duels are used with the non-lethal stun sticks but there is usually at least one, sometimes more, duels fought with real lightsabers. Battles to the death or at least severe disfigurement. Though, I did feel relived. Relived that there is still a living part of me that has no desire to see bloodshed. Relived the Sithrimi and the long grasp of the dark side had yet to reach out and grip itself onto my heart and being.

I finished my classes for the day and sat at the foot of my bed. In my hand I held a lightsaber handle. The lightsaber was non-functional and was only used as a teaching device. Ollose gave these out to everyone at class today. He wanted us to get used to the feel and weight of it. I had other ideas for it though. I wanted to... try something, something new. Just like the Force Point I wanted to invent another original technique. However, I needed to practice this new, "technique" before I could master it, but to do that I needed a lightsaber or at least a substitute. Now Ollose had provided me with one. Even though the saber handle was non-functional I didn't need the saber's energy blade, I just needed the handle. In fact I preferred it without the blade because I was teaching this new technique to myself and I couldn't risk cutting or killing myself just by attempting it. No, thank you!

I took my right hand, the hand that was grasping the faux-saber, and stretched it out in front of me. I held the saber with the back of my hand faced down toward the floor and my palm and the saber facing up toward the ceiling. I released the grip on the handle, letting it lay still on the palm of my hand. I closed my eyes half way as I reached out toward the handle with the force. I levitated it just a few inches above my palm. As it floated in the air, I tried to keep it as steady and still as possible though it still shook in the air just a bit. When I was satisfied by my control of the handle I started to put that control to the test. I slowly stared rotating the handle end-over-end just above the palm of my hand. It was shaky but I was able to increase the speed that it rotated at with ease. I began pushing my control even further by slowly lowering my hand away from the rotating handle. The handle started to fall from the air as I lowered my hand but I was able to catch it with my mind and kept it floating in midair, in front of me. It was no longer spinning but it was unassisted without the added assistance of my hand being there.

I was about to try and rotate the handle with my mind only and without my hand there as added support. Before I could attempt that though, I heard a knock at the door of room 66. I sighed and let the handle drop to the ground. It was good progress but I still had allot of work to do for what I was trying to teach myself. First I'd need to master one lightsaber, then many more. I stood up from my bed and walked over to the door. I expected Vayne but was surprised when I opened the dorr and saw the Dug Lord, Ollose Vedalt'e standing before me. I cocked an eyebrow, "Oh? To what do I owe this surprise too?"

He didn't answer, he just pushed his way into my room and slammed the door behind me. He looked around the room and grumbled to himself, "So these are the tiny little rooms of the neophytes?"

I adopted a cocky grin on my face, "I prefer to think of it as... cozy."

He noticed the lightsbaer handle on the ground and picked it up with his foot-hand, "Practicing?"

I sat back down at my bed, "Until I was interrupted, yes. You still haven't answered me, my Lord."

He grinned and he rubbed a fleshy fold on his chin with one of his foot-hands, "Tomorrow is the day. What do you students call it?"

"Arena day." I told him.

"Yes, that is it. Do you know what I call it?" He asked me.

With a smile on my face I responded, "I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"A day of opportunity. For you more than most." He said as he pointed the handle of the faux-saber at me.

"Oh? Go on." I said as with a feigned intrest.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors around Hyarsythe. The rumors that the Sith Lords at the academy secretly pick students and give them... sort of a special apprenticeship. They take these students and give them special and more advanced teachings. More than the others." He said.

"It's not a secret, Vedalt'e. I know about Lokindr's twin pets and I know they took great pleasure in ripping your apprentice, as well as Bast's, into pieces just a few Arena Days ago." I said with a slight, matter-of-fact tone.

He chuckled, "Yes. I'll admit that was rather embarrassing. However, I now wish to take another apprentice. I have a few students in mind and you are on the short list. We both know you may be a neophyte in rank but you are more adept in the force than maybe even those twin pets put together."

"Oh? Is that so? Why do I think that offer has a, 'but' coming?" I asked him.

"But," He emphasized, "you must first prove yourself worthy."

"And how would I do that?" I asked with an act of peeked interest.

"Victory tomorrow." He said with wide grin in his face.

"Now tell me. Why would I want to be your apprentice. Why would I want to make enemies with Lokindr, the headmaster of Hyarsythe? Would I not just want to holdout and become her apprentice, rather than yours." I suggested to him.

He cocked his head to the side. He was annoyed with my response but understood my reasoning, "Well made points... for a neophyte. However, it just shows how new you are to Hyarsythe. Lokindr is only in her seat of power due to her twin pets. She dose next to nothing for Hyarsythe except for basking in her power, the power of her position. She has lost touch with the force. She is weak. Her pets are more powerful than she is and she uses them to stay in power."

Ollose was wrong. I remember back when she sapped the memories right form my mind in her chambers. When she did that I could feel her presence in the force and it was far from weak. Though it is possible that she just opened my mind the Sithrimi and that was the darkness that I felt but that was unlikely. Either way I knew Phyress was stronger than he was suggesting. He was either naive or he was trying to sell me on the idea of becoming his apprentice. Burying Phyres in the process. I knew that I defiantly didn't want to be his apprentice. Granted, he'd teach me allot about my skills with a lightsaber but the last thing I needed was a Sith Lord looking over my shoulder. Though, I think that I already had three Sith Lords looking over my shoulder as it was. They were just good at hiding it. Actually, it may benefit me more to keep Ollose closer to me. Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer, as they say. Maybe I'd have to consider it after all.

I gave Ollose a nod of my head, "Very well. So, who will my opponent be?"

"That," He laughed, "I can't tell you. After all I'm not saying that you're my first pick just yet. Just think of it as added incentive."

"Ah, very well. In that case perhaps you should leave me to my training. If you have nothing further to say." I told him as I summoned the faux-lightsaber back into my hand.

I don't think he was used to such a brash attitude toward a Sith Lord from a neophyte before. He just grumbled to himself as he opened my door and walked out, "Very well. Just don't be a disappointment."

I didn't like being an indelible impression on the minds of the Sith. All of these Sith offers, all these comments. It made me uncomfortable. I'd rather be more like... well like someone that I didn't know about because they were forgettable. I guess it was my own fault. After all, I did come to Hyarsythe under my own will... idiot...

--

The day after Vedalt'e paid me a rather unpleasant visit, it was the Arena Day. No classes, no teachings, just duels of power, might, and superiority in the cage like arena. Everyone inside of Hyarsythe gathered at this event. Phyress even had her own personal throne constructed just outside the arena's floor. She sat there in a raspberry, black, and gray colored, full-body dress, and an ornate, gray platted headdress that covered all of her face except for her chin, mouth, and part of her nose with only an orange, decorative visor to view out of. The skin around her mouth and cheeks was shriveled and unhealthy. It was common amongst those who give themselves completely to the dark side to have facile and, or body disfiguration. The dark side will often drain the very life force and "beauty" from one's body.

Back in the Jedi Temple, I was told stories of vein Jedi that were worried about growing old and losing their looks. They fell to the temptation of the dark side and the purist of the Sith goal, everlasting life. Ironically, it was the dark side, the very power they used to attempt to stay young, that would ruin their bodies. Age was a natural process of life and many couldn't accept it. I doubt Phyress was like that though. My impression of her was that she couldn't care less about physical appearances and cared only for power.

Phyress watched her students duel as her pets, Kail and Moyi stood on each side of her throne. Neither Bast or Ollose had a seat. Rather they seemed to stand around in the shadows and watched the duels from there. It was sort of creepy. As for me, I was stuck in the highest of bleachers with the rest of the neophytes. The higher up in the bleachers the less experienced the students were. I sat next to Vayne as we watched two students dueling with stun sticks. One was a glassy eyed, hair-line faced, tusked, Aqualish male. He was facing a tapir-snouted, green skinned, black eyed, Rodian female.

(Note: example of what a rodian looks like: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/character/greedo/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

Note: Aqualish : /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/species/aqualish/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined

We watched as the Aqualish used broad and powerful swipes aimed at the Rodian. He was powerful but he was using a form that favored fights for more than one opponent and was weak against one-on-one fights. The female Rodian was weaker in strength but was faster and used a form more suited for one-on-one battles. Speaking as a former gambler back on Lanoul, my credits would have been on the Rodian... if I were betting. The Aqualish made a few swipes toward her but she easily avoided them. She finished the battle by dropping down into a roll. She rolled behind him, leapt up and racked her stun stick into the back of his neck. He dropped to the ground in agony while she raised her arms in victory. Some students cheered, some booed, most kept silent. I nudged Vayne in the side, "Told you. It doesn't matter how strong you are. If you are easily out maneuvered, you got no chance."

He grunted, "Yeah, well its 2-3. You are only one ahead."

The Rodian took her seat as the Aqualish crawled out of the arena in shame and physical agony. So far none of the duels were all that interesting. Unlike in Ollose's class, you were allowed to use force techniques in the arena but no one had yet to really utilize them. Phyress signaled for everyone to quite themselves. She then read off of a datapad the next duel participants out loud for every one to hear, "Neophyte Odasell. Neophyte Ty'Vayne. Stun sticks."

I patted him on the back, "That's you buddy. Who the hell is Odasell though?"

"Beats me." He said as he stood up then walked down the bleachers to the arena floor. To my surprise the other student walking to the arena, across from us, was Shirtless. So he had a name after all, Odasell. Personally, I liked my nickname better. As Shirtless... or Odasell, made his way to the arena floor he had his arms raised to the crowd. Vayne just stood there with his hands on his hips and watched Shirtless act like a stupid son of a barve. (Note: "son of a barve"; Star Wars curse) A Sith trooper walked out from a tunnel with two stun sticks in hand. The trooper handed them each a stick and walked back into the tunnel.

I watched with great interest as Phyress signaled for them to begin the duel. Vayne stepped backward holding his stun stick crossed, diagonally across his chest in a defensive position. He waited for Shirtless to attack first. Which he did. Shirtless made a quick slash toward Vayne. A slash in which Vayne easily blocked. He then countered with a powerful smack of his stun stick against Odasell's stick. The large clashing of sticks echoed through the entire arena room. The counter attack had so much force and power behind it that it caused Odasell's own stun stick to jerk back and hit him in his own shoulder. If it were a real lightsaber, Shirtless would have just cut off his own arm. Insted the toxic barbs on the stick's dull blade just caused his arm to go limp. Shirtless was forced to switch his grip from his right, limp hand to his left, still functioning hand. Well... he tried. During the action of switching hands, Vayne capitalized and cracked his stick across his ribs, a "death blow". If it were a lightsaber Shitless would have been cut in two so the duel was over. Vayne won his match almost as quickly as it began.

It was the quickest duel so far. Vayne just dropped his stick to the ground and walked back up toward the bleachers as if nothing had happened. We both had a large grin as Shirtless took the walk of shame out of the arena. When he got back to the seats I smacked him on the shoulder, "You've made it look to easy. Now if I get called they are going to excpect so much more from me."

He chuckled, "Yeah right. Get over yourself. They know that no average, neophyte can pose a threat to me."

"Just wait until they call my name. I'll give everyone a show to watch. Believe it, junior." I promised him outloud. Inside though, I was nervous because I knew Ollose would have his dirty, little, Sith eyes watching the duel, judging and watching for his next apprentice.

Phyress looked down at her datapad again before she called out the next participants, "Neophyte Mun Orlen, Neophyte Nemea, stun sticks."

Shunfa! (note: Shunfa; Star Wars curse) My name, or fake name, was called. I knew it was coming but I still didn't like it. Last night before I went to bed I decided on a plan if I won the duel and Ollose offered me his apprenticeship. It was a risky plan but it was worth a shot. I was going to at least try and win but deep inside I sort of wished I'd just loose and wouldn't have to worry about it. I took a good, deep breath as I stood up from me seat, letting a calm wave run through my body. Vayne sat in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and a grin on his face, "Lets see if you can beat yours as fast as I beat mine."

I looked down and shot him a look, "You had Shirtless! It may as well have been a training dummy."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Fair enough."

I rolled me eyes and began walking down toward the arena floor. It was a weird feeling having all these eyes watching me. By the time I reached the arena floor, my opponent had already arrived. Neophyte Mun Orlen was a human female, possibly Voidian. Voidian were a unique race of human. They come from a lone moon called J'Rekk. J'Rekk was once a planet's moon until that planet withered and died millennia ago. Yet, somehow the moon stays alive. About 90 of J'Rekk is un-inhabitable due to the moon's odd rotation. There is only a small little crater on the moon's surface that is always in the dark. The rest of the moon gets baked in the sun, killing all life. That crater is the only inhabitable part of the entire moon. The crater has been called the J'Rekk void, hence the term, Voidian.

Voidians are known for their unusual colored hair and eyes. Their hair differs from black, dark shades of purple, dark shades of red, and dark shades of blue with eyes that often matched their hair color. The Voidains are also know for their criminal behavior. The J'Rekk Void is full of criminals, smugglers, slavers, runaways, gangs, pretty much anything and anyone that you wouldn't want to mess with. Most of the Voidians still remaining on J'Rekk are too poor too leave and turn to crime in hopes of gaining enough credits to leave the planet. The only real respectable job on all of J'Rekk was mining for a rare metal found only on J'Rekk. That metal was the only reason I even knew of J'Rekk's existence in the first place.

This Voidian looked to be maybe a couple of years younger than I and if I took away the fact that she was training to be a Sith and if I took away the fact that she'd soon be trying to crack my skull with a stun stick, I'd have found her quite attractive. Her skin tone was a light tannish color. Her features that pointed toward her being Voidian were her long, black hair with violet streaks and matching magenta eyes. Her hair could have been dyed but her eye color was an unusual color for most humans. Except for Voidians. She wore a black and violet colored, sleeveless, legless, leotard-like body glove over her torso with long black gloves over her arms and long black boots. Her outfit left her shoulders and upper legs exposed. She had an athletic build and appeared at first glance to be a capable fighter. Much more capable than most neophytes. I wasn't surprised that she appeared to be a good fighter, after all Ollose had an eye on her too.

With my history with women, the more attractive they were, the more ruthless they were and that dates all the way back to my days as a padawan. Hopefully, she'd be an exception because I had a bad feeling about all of this. She grabbed at her long gloves and tugged on them to make sure they were fit securely. As she did she stared at me with an odd look in her eyes. It looked a like a little bit like fear. Fear was just another emotion that the Sithrimi could grab hold off and amplify. I looked past her and saw Vedalt'e standing in the bleacher's shadows watching on with great interest. A trooper walked beside Vedalt'e with two stun sticks in protected hands. The trooper handed one stun stick to her and then me.

Her starting stance with the stun stick was very different from mine. I had my body faced sideways, away from my opponent, she faced me directly. I stood up straight and she was slumped over in a ready-to-pounce state. I had my saber pointed toward my opponent, whereas she held it at her side, pointed toward the ground. Before I got into my stance I patted my chest right where my Lanoul Wolf pendant rested beneath my body glove. We stood there, waiting for Lokindr's signal to begin... which I couldn't see because I had my back to her but it didn't matter because I was going to wait for her to make the first move anyways.

I stood there and waited... and waited... and waited. She stood there and waited... and waited until she suddenly, and with an awesome speed, she dashed forward as she spun her saber at her side. She then met me with a powerful strike in which I blocked. She followed up with a flurry of staccato paced attacks. I struggled to block them. I tired to reach out with the force and envision her attacks but things were hazy. It was like she was veiling her attacks from the force. She wasn't masking them completely but I had to struggle to anticipate them. By the time I was able to read her strikes, I had just barley been able to block them and she was already beginning a new set of attacks.

If things went on like this she'd crack her stun stick across a half dozen parts of my body before I even I realized I had lost. She was like a viper! In desperation I quickly extended my hand toward her and gave her my own technique, the Force Point. The powerful force push compacted into a single point on the opponents body. I aimed the attack at her stomach. She sensed that she was in danger and leapt backward before I could attack her with it. I had yet to ever attack any force sensitive person with the Force Point because it was so powerful my opponents could easily sense it though the force. However, it always caused them to break their attack and take a few steps back. I invented the perfect stall tactic against force users. Against those that weren't in tune with the force it was just a crippling and unnecessary blow that I only used once... and I regret it.

As she backed away from me, she had a confused look on her face. She had no idea what my attack was going to be and it left her doubting herself just as her little veiling trick had done to me. We both stood there with great caution and presence. Both of our skills and techniques were unorthodox. It was no wonder why Vedalt'e was watching the both of us. The worst part about this was that I couldn't use my battle calming technique because it was an obvious light side teaching. Normally in a stand off like this I'd close my eyes and send calming waves through my body. Even in mid-battle it was calming. Though, with so many Sith eyes on me I knew someone would realize what I was doing and that would make things very difficult for me, or should I say, even more difficult for me.

All I could think to do was go back to my starting stance with my body turned and point my saber toward her. Rather than charging toward me like last time, she took slow, broad steps toward me as she held her stun stick out in front of her, gripped tightly in both hands. I decided to break one of the traditional rules of Jedi lightsaber techniques and started relying more on my physical eyes rather then foreseeing the attacks with the force. I didn't feel comfortable about doing it but her little trick left me with little option. I watched her as she walked and made myself familiar with her movements. If I watched her muscle movements I might be able to read her attack before she made it. The muscles were a common giveaway because they always moved and functioned before the body was able act, at least for humans and most humanoids. By watching the muscles and how they moved or led off they may just give up what she was going to do. Fortunate for me, some of the most readable muscles were the deltoid in the shoulder, the collar bone, and the inner thigh muscle. Her shoulders and thighs were some of the only exposed part of her body... which seemed odd when I thought about it. Why would she keep her shoulders and thigh exposed when they were in fact, very telling? Could she have just not realized this fact? No. That didn't seem very likley.

She didn't give me anymore time to think about it. She got close enough to me to begin a strike. I watched her shoulder muscles hoping to watch where and when she'd attack but her muscles moved so quickly and so violently it was imposable to read. She swept her stun stick over her head in a quick and sudden arc. I had to give up on watching her muscle movement and had to struggle to recover myself and block her attack. When I blocked her attack I was able to use my strength to over power her and push her back. I took a few steps back and regained my composer and replay what happened over in my head.

When I thought about I figured out why she left her shoulder and thighs exposed when she dueled, because the way they moved were misleading. She was able to move her muscles with so much speed and in such a different way than the human body normally functions, if anyone tried to read them and their movements they'd face the same problem I had. She would already have begun her attack by the time her opponent realized that it was imposable to read muscles. It was like a trap. It was a cunning tactic and was unique to this one individual. This left her impossible to scout.

I had never been in a situation like this before, even against Dart Vultous. I felt helpless. I couldn't use my eyes and I couldn't rely on the force as much I would have liked. Maybe I was thinking to much of the defensive. I was concentrating on how to block her attacks so I'd have to start to force her to think about how to block my attacks. I looked at her as she began charging toward me again, but before she could reach me and strike at me I leapt high into the air with a force jump. I leapt high over her head. She looked up just in time to see me take my stun stick and throw it down at her. The stun stick rotated end over end as it fell down on top of her. She was able to swipe her stun stick up to block my falling weapon. The two sticks made a clacking sound as she knocked my stick back into the air. I landed on my feat a few meters behind from her just as my stun stick flew into the air. She turned around to face me just as I began charging at her without a weapon in hand. As I charged at her I reaching my right hand into the air and levitated the airborne stick back toward my right hand. She was about to attack me, being unarmed and all, when she realized that I was summoning the stick back into my hand and she was standing between me and my boomeranging stun stick. Rather than attacking she was forced to leap backward into an airborne back flip just as my stun stick was about to crack her in the back.

I grabbed my stun stick back from the air and made a long thrusting motion toward the airborne Voidian, but she was able to twist her body in the air just to avoid me. When my attack missed I didn't let up. Her feet hit the ground and she was met with a flurry of my attacks. She blocked them and countered with a flurry of her own. We made so many quick attacks it was hard to realize just who was attacking and who defending. The only thing we were worried about was making sure that our opponent's stun stick didn't hit it's mark. It was a completely even matchup and it was either of ours to win.

I was about to back away and catch my breath when I felt a warning in the force. It came from behind me. I had no idea what it was. I knew it was a threat, but so was the Voidian. It felt like a lose-lose situation. I could break my attack and face this new threat but then the girl would be able to strike me down. On the other hand, if I ignored it, I felt like I'd be no better off. In desperation, I tried leaping into the air and away from both of the threats but she was able to scrape her stun stick across my left leg. Even through my pants I could feel the barbs dig into my skin. It burned before it numbed all feeling in my leg. When I landed on the ground to her left, my left leg wasn't able to hold my weight and my body collapsed when I landed. My legs came out from under me and my knee smashed into my jaw. That smash sent me falling backwards and my back was next to slam into the ground.

I was dazed and confessed for a moment but I was able to quickly recover. I had the taste of blood in my mouth, my back was in pain, my left leg was half numb and half burning, my stun stick was broken in two, and I still had no idea what happened. I looked over toward the Voidian and saw another stun stick laying next to her. Standing at the other end of the arena floor I saw Shirtless with a grin on his face. I wasn't sure but I think that son of a bantha came back into the arena and threw a stun stick at me during my duel. Maybe he was embarrassed by his pitiful duel with Vayne and wanted revenge against his partner, me. Maybe he is just an idiot. Whatever the reason he jobbed me over once again!

Him and a group of neophytes in the top of the bleachers started laughing. Laughing at me. As this happened the Voidian women walked over to me with both the stun stick she was given and the stun stick that Shirtless tossed at me. I lifted what was left of my stun stick and held it out in front of me. I struggled to get to one knee, my left and numb knee. I then pathetically held the broken stun stick out in front of me. I realized how pointless it was and dropped the stun stick to the ground. I took a deep breath and waited for her to smack the stun sticks in her hands across my face. I noticed that Ollose had a wide smile on his face as he watched her about to deal the, "death blow".

She looked down at me and tried to look as intimidating as possible. She looked like she was trying to force the courage to punish, to hurt me. In the end though, she just sighed and took the dull end of one of the stun sticks and pushed it gently against my chest where my heart would be. The dull end of the stun stick had far less barbs then the blade of the stick. It wouldn't burn or numb, it would just give me a slight skin irritation. She showed me mercy?! What an un-Sith-like thing to do. In response I spat out a mouthful of blood and looked up at her with a bloody grin on my face, "Well, all-in-all, I'd say it was a good duel."

She seemed just as confused by my response as I was about her mercy blow at the end of the duel. She raised a confused eyebrow and looked down at me, "Uhh... Yeah. I guess it was."

Phyress then stood up from her throne to which the entire arena grew deathly silent. Her demeanor remained emotionless though when she looked over at Shirtless, who had now joined up with his gang at the top of the bleachers, I could feel a darkness radiating from her. I wasn't sure if anyone else could sense it, but she defiantly took notice of Shirtless. I wasn't sure how though. Maybe she with upset with him for interrupting the match or maybe she approved of his actions. She looked from Shirtless over to the Voidian and myself and shouted for everyone to hear, "This duel will be viewed as a draw. No victor, no defeated."

That... that was very odd. It was my belief that the Sith were all about victory and superiority and by the murmuring reaction in the stands, that was everyone else's belief. I was perplexed at first but I realized Lokindr's reasons when I saw Vedalt'e standing in the shadows. His teeth were snarling and his fists were clenched. I'm sure that Phyress knew of his intention behind this duel between the Voidian and I. She knew that Ollose was using this duel as a test between the two of us. With a result like this it left Ollose back at square one. He had no winner and no loser. Maybe, I didn't have to do anything to sabotage the Sith. With this little competition, they were putting themselves before the Sith and it was eating the Sith from the inside out. At least I wouldn't have to worry about my plans if I had won the duel.

I thought that neophyte Mun Orlen would be upset by the final result because interference or not, she won. However, she didn't appear to be upset at all. She just sighed and dropped the stun sticks on the ground before walking back up into the stands. Her un-Sith-like behavior intrigued me. I had to leave the arena floor too because Phyress had already begun announcing the next duel. I had to use my arms and good leg to drag myself off the arena floor and into a small crevice between some bleachers where I could watch the rest of the duels for the day by myself. Most of the neophyte battles were bland and unimpressive. When they got to more seasoned students though it got much more interesting. Though, it wasn't until the final duel of the day where things took a much darker tone.

--

It was getting late in the day, or so I guessed. It's hard to tell inside of a windowless, submerged, academy. Many duels had been fought and the burning feeling in my leg went away. It was still numb though, as was my butt. I'd been sitting in this crevice between the bleachers ever since my duel many hours ago. I'm just glad I used the refresher before I came to the arena. The other duels were getting much more interesting, now that they are between advanced students. Not only were the duels longer and more technical but as a bonus I was able to learn from some of their saber techniques and could absorb them into my own form.

I watched the finale of a duel between a human male and a wookiee male. The wookie won with sheer power. He cracked is stun stick so hard across the human's ribs I could hear an unpleasant and violent cracking sound coming from both the cracking stun stick and his cracking ribs. The wookiee howled in triumph and held his broken stun stick above his head like a trophy. The wookiee took his seat near the bottom of the arena floor but the the human had to be dragged off the floor by two troopers. He was gritting his teeth in agony as the troopers removed him without much care for his injury. After the human was gone from the arena floor, Phyress stood up from her throne and announced what would be the final bout of the night. Her emotionless and calm exterior was replaced by a bloodthirsty grin and devious body language as she gave the announcement, "Advanced student Kali. Advanced student Moyi. Lightsabers."

Loud murmurs echoed throughout the arena. This announcement wasn't what anyone expected. Phyress wanted her twin apprentices to fight each other with live lightsabers? I, like most of the arena was in genuine shock. Kali and Moyi were more confused than anyone. Moyi looked to Phyress, "Master? What do you mean?"

Phyress waved her off, "It is as I say. You two depend too much on one another. You can read the other's thoughts and work as a team in battle. However, the Sith are not about teams and especially not family. You both knew that sooner or later that this day would come. I have grown tired of the two of you fighting as if you were one. It is time to sever the ties between you and grow further in the dark side. Win and become stronger, lose and face your own weakness."

The two twins gave each other an awkward look. Fear and anxiety ruled their emotions. As long as I have been in Hyarsythe those two seemed to be unstoppable. I heard they had a special connection through the force. They could read each other's minds and it was rumored that they could even see what the other sees. They would fight as two people but at the same time, almost as one powerful conscious. Now they would have to turn against that conscious and those instincts and fight the other twin. Even as they stepped into the arena floor they looked lost and unsure of what to do.

They stood in the center of the floor looking at the opposite twin. Kali, the one with the dark green tattoo, ignited her ruby colored lightsaber. She got into a basic stance and waited for her Matser to give the signal for the duel, no, the battle to begin. Moyi, the one with the dark purple tattoo fallowed her sister and ignited her own ruby colored saber and got into a similar stance. Phyress smiled and singled for the duel to begin. Kali instantly went to attack Moyi but suddenly stopped midway and backed away from her twin. She tried again and went to swipe at Moyi's knees but halfway through her attack she stopped again and backed away. It could be that Kali could read Moyi's mind and knew when she planned to counter attack and it probably worked conversely.

Moyi tried to attack this time but was able to read her sister's thoughts and dodged a counter attack aimed at her head. This was a very awkward and shaky duel to watch and definitely that much harder to take part in. When they both know the other's moves it is difficult to gain the upper hand. Moyi then began another attack but Kali blocked every single attack. Kali tried to use a force push against Moyi but Moyi was able to leap away from it. In what appeared like a pointless battle, it seemed hopeless for both of them until Kali reached out her right arm toward Moyi and let out a powerful and frightening attack known as Force Lightning, or due to the fact it is mainly a dark side technique, namely the Sith, it is also known as Sith Lightning. A very skilled attack that channeled Force energy down Kali's limbs, hurling arcing bolts of electricity from her fingertips toward Moyi. Moyi then countered back with her own Sith Lightning attack. I was in awe as the two electrical streams of lightning crackled together into a ball of blue lightning. Some advanced students near the bottom of the floor had to get to higher ground so as not to be stricken by and stray forks of lightning.

I could feel the dark side rippling through the air with each added pulse of lightning from their hands. The two had managed to take their pre-sight away from the other twin. Now it was a battle of who was more in touch with the Force, more specifically the dark side of the Force. Or maybe it was a battle between who could tap into the power of the Sithrimi first. Both twins struggled to overpower their opposite. They had taped into the mighty power of the dark side and gave their own concerns away. Just as Phyress hoped for. Any fear of harming their sister had vanished, any doubt or hesitation was long gone. They had given in to the dark side and only cared about being the victor.

Kali pushed hard, as did Moyi. Kali attacked with a steady current of lighting while Moyi attempted a risky move and put everything she had into one powerful pulse. She let out an echoing scream as she released one mighty stream of lightning that shredded through Kali's lightning and struck her body. Kali's body spasamed as she with struck with her sister's attack. I had to turn my eyes away from the rest of the attack because I was well aware of what Sith Lightning could do to any body, any being. I witnessed it once before during that battle against Darth Vultous. It was a haunting and disgusting sight.

When I heard the lightning finish it's cackling sound as it ran though Kali's body I looked back and saw what remained. Kali's body, her corpse, was... disfigured to say the least. Smoke rose from the corpse and into the air. This... this was just another example of the reality of the Sith. It was just another push toward my intent to destroy the Sith and end their cruel reign. Moyi, the student that just moments ago gave into the dark side, stood there with an all too familiar look of shock and emotional agony over her loss. It was the same face Wire had when she saw her parents dead, killed by the Sith. Always by the Sith! This time though Moyi just wasn't a victim, she was the murderer. Things had twisted in her mind enough to make her strike down her own twin sister. This was just how the Sith were, it wasn't unheard of. It was sickening.

Most of the arena said nothing. They were afraid to say anything as Moyi walked over to her sister's dead body and dropped to her knees as a small trickle of tears ran down her face. Phyress got up from her throne and walked over to Moyi. She looked down at her and scoffed, "This pitiful display of emotion sickens me, Moyi. Do not be afraid my student. You'll have to learn to turn this pain, this sadness, this loneliness into a powerful tool. I'l teach you to warp those emotions and use them to-"

Moyi stood up and spat at Lokindr's feat, "That is it? Was this your intention all this time? So one of us would die and you could use it to further manipulate the winner? That's all you wanted, wasn't it?"

Phyress looked down at her foot where Moyi spat. She shook her head in disappointment, "So, is that it? That is what you desire? Very well, you are no longer my apprentice. I won't stand for this ridiculous behavior. You are now just another student in the eyes of the Sith. Foolish, Moyi. For all I care, Bast can have you but really, Moyi. Why hate me when it was you that killed your sister?"

Moyi looked on with a madness and rage as Phyress turned her back to Moyi and walked out of the arena. Students then fallowed her lead and left the arena. Just like that, someone died and everyone goes back to their normal schedule as if nothing significant happened. After a few minutes and after most of the arena was empty, Vayne walked over to the crevice I was sitting at and kneeled down next to me, "Hey. There you are. Sorry about what happened earlier. I would have done something to stop that bantha fodder if I wasn't in the upper bleachers."

"Don't worry about it." I told him. I nodded my head over to Moyi who was still sitting next to Kali's body. She just sat there with a completely fallen and defeated look on her face. Vayne looked over to her as I said, "I've seen allot of things from the Sith. Deception, manipulation, murder, lust, and corruption. Things that seem so un-organic. Almost like they are all nothing but droids programmed for causing pain and suffering. Though, I've seen many students act organic with emotion and reason."

"What do you mean?" He asked with almost a worried look on his face.

I looked over to him and patted him on the shoulder, "Tell me. Imagine yourself in Lokindr's position. Ordering two siblings to fight to the death in hopes to manipulate them to do your own will. Can you really see yourself doing that? Do you even want to become that?"

He had a very uncertain look on his face, "Look, I don't expect to become a Sith Lord or anything like that."

"Then why are you here? Why would you came to Hyarsythe? To become a pawn, a glorious Sith Knight that lives and dies for the will of the Sith Lords?" I asked him with a persuasive tone.

He just shook his head and stood up, "I'm not getting into this... I'm not... Later."

He turned his back to me and walked away. Not surprisingly. I hit a nerve with my questioning. Hopefully he'd think about my questions because I was sick of the Sith and their behavior and their teachings. I've witnessed students who don't belong with the Sith. They didn't want to act the way they did but viewed the Sith as their only option. Like Vayne, he isn't bloodthirsty and he isn't a murderer but because the Jedi turned him away, he had little option. A part of me wanted to help him and other students that didn't belong but I really wasn't one to help them. I'm not a Jedi and I'm not a Sith. I'm just something else. I felt though, if I did nothing, these students would just fall victim to the dark side. As I looked on as Moyi continued grieving over Kali I decided to take on another task. I wanted to give them another option besides the Jeid or the Sith. There was this strong part of me that wanted to help these people. I wish that part of me would leave me alone. Argh, what was I getting myself into... again?!


	10. Chapter 11: Alliances

The quick stuff. Please read, review, and visit my home page...

Annoli sat in a round sofa with her legs crossed and tucked beneath her. She looked all around her and felt... intimidated. The reason why Annoli felt so out of place is because of her new Master and what he had gotten her into. Just yesterday she was meeting him for the first time. She then mentioned her disapproval over the Jedi council and now she sat here, in an abandoned room inside the Jedi temple. Zade told her of a sort of insurrection forming against the council that he was leading. He asked her if she was ready to be a part of such a monumental movement. He asked if she was strong and mature enough for such a task. He had put her on the spot and Annoli figured that Zade doesn't have much experience in dealing with teenage padawans... or maybe just people in general. Zade did mention though that whether or not she wanted to be part of this, he'd still train her as his padawan just the same. She could tell he felt rather uncomfortable about putting her in this situation, but Annoli accepted his offer with little hesitation. She knew the council had to be stopped. Their ignorance toward the force cost her, her master's life.

Zade sat next to her on the sofa... and around them sat some very wise and strong Jedi Masters and Knights. Eight Jedi total, not including Zade or Annoli. She was the only padawan in the group. A young padawan in a group of very serious Jedi, in a very serious situation. From her left, going clockwise sat Master Sarval-Styr, the Klatooinian Jedi Master. Further down was the short, female, rodent-like, no more than one meter tall, bat-like faced, Chadra-Fan Jedi, Master Takie. Like most Chadra-Fan, Master Takie talked in chirps and whistles, so she always needed a tiny little translation droid clipped to her belt. Next to her, at the end of that section of the sofa was the female, Ishi Tib, Jedi Knight, Master Dyraid. The Ishi Tib are amphibious beings with large eyes on stalks and beak-like mouths. Their heads were often described as star-shaped, with their eyestalks, beaks, and cheek pouches forming a five-pointed star.

(Note:... here is a long list of alien examples)  
(Note:Chadra-Fan:/meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/character/kabe/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined  
a better look a Chdara-fan: starwars./wiki/Image:Chadra-FanNEGAS.jpg )  
(Note: Duros: starwars./wiki/Image:Durosofficer2.jpg )  
(Note: Ishi Tib: starwars./wiki/Image:GumeSaam.jpg )

Further down at the next section of sofa, sat Jedi Knight, Master Rabb'dra. A second male Klatooinian, though he was almost half the age of Master Sarval-Styr. Next to him sat the male Tarnab Jedi Master, Master Xevioso. The Tarnab are a species characterized by their triangular skull. They possessed a tapir-like snout and a cluster of horns amid rough hair. Master Xevioso was probably the most intimidating to Annoli. He is a powerful warrior and held his presence as such. His face always had a stone set look of intimidation.

(note: Tarnab starwars./wiki/Image:Tarnab.jpg )

At the last section of the sofa sat the female, human, Jedi Knight, Master Wennsis. She had very dark skin, short spiky hair, and an eye patch over her right eye. Her right eye was destroyed when her starfighter was shot down many years ago. Next to her sat the female Ongree, Jedi Master, Master Hub-Hud. She had yellowish skin and an elongated, tapering head. Two flexible eyestalks protruded from either side of her head, allowing her to see an object from many angles. Next to her was the Hapan Jedi Knight, Master Koppler. The Hapen were a near human species. On average though, they were considered more attractive than the average human. Master Koppler had pale skin, long blonde hair, and wore a light green visor over his eyes. The Hapan had trouble seeing in the dark and he needed his special visor to see better in the dark. Most Hapan were sealed off away from the rest of the galaxy. The brash and sometimes cocky Master Koppler was an exception and somehow found himself in the Jedi temple. Together there were four Jedi Knights, five Jedi Masters, and a single padawan.

(note: Ongree: starwars./wiki/Image:Pablo-Jill.jpg )

This group of nine Jedi, plus one padawan, made up the generals of the, "Jedi Insurrection". There were others taking part in the this rebellion-of-sorts, but these nine were the representatives that would take part in their first meeting. Before this gathering took place, it was decided that no more than ten of these rebelling Jedi would group together at one time for fear of raising the suspicion of the nettlesome Jedi council. Each one of these nine generals were hand picked by Zade and Master Sarval-Styr. They trusted each and every one of these Jedi and felt as if they wouldn't have to worry about one of them being an inside spy for the council. An action that was very possible by the council.

Annoli had no idea what to believe of these Jedi. Everything seemed so overwhelming to her. Nothing seemed the way it should. The Jedi were the enemy and this rebellion of the willing were her allies. It felt like everything she once knew was now all gone. It used to be simple, Jedigood, Republicgood, Sithbad. Now it was like Sithbad, Jedibad, Republicbad, going against every rule the Jedi stand for to preserve the very rules they were breakinggood. All she could do was sit back, listen, and try to make some sense out of all this.

Zade opened this meeting with a bow of the head to the other Jedi, "Welcome. I know this is a rather quick and disheveled approach to things but its must be done. I'm sure you have all heard of the council's callow decisions lately. Especially toward Jedi whom they disagree with. It borders on downright murder. Master Quint is currently fighting in the front lines of battle because the council overheard her words of disapproval over the council's actions. I was sent to Hypori by the council's choice. Sending me there at that time was wreckless and could have cost me my life if the Sith armada still remained there. And this one's former Master," He said as he signaled over to her, "Master Borru, met his untimely fate due to their ignorance and poor judgment."

Master Takie, the rodent like Chadra-Fan began squeaking and chirping to which her small droid translated with an electrical tone of voice, "Speaking of which, Master Rad'hyth, was it wise to step down from the council and take an apprentice at this time? I don't mean to speak ill of padawan Fennal, but perhaps it would have been better for our group to have at least one member on the council."

"Is it even wise for her to take part in this?" The one-eyed Jedi Knight Wennsis added.

"I'm afraid I had little option in the matter." Zade said as he placed a hand on her shoulder as if to say to her, not to take this personally, "If I accepted her or not she would have be ordered on me. As for her joining in this, now that she is my padawan we have similar fates. Whether or not she took part of this or not, if I were caught she'd be penalized by the council just the same. She at least deserves to be aware of the danger she is in, yes? Besides, I wasn't much longer for the council either way. I'd either the council leave with a padawan or as a cadaver. I'd much prefer the first option."

Master Xevioso, the Tarnab Master that startled her, spoke to her directly with his natural, harsh tone but spoke kind words, "Do not be offended by our conversation, girl. These words are not meant to be harsh, just consultation information."

She wasn't quite afraid of him as much after those words. She nodded her head to the Masters, "Don't worry saying words about me. Master Boru used to say my skin was just as thick as my skull."

A few of the Jedi laughed to themselves, including Zade before he continued on with the meeting, "I believe Master Sarval-Styr had you each make a list of supporters that you've gathered so far. How are the numbers?"

Matser Sarval-Styr handed Zade a datapad as he said, "I've gathered a list of every gathered supporter we could find. In total we have 75 supporters, 67 knights and eight Masters. This number is not including the total padawan that have joined along with their Masters."

"A decent number." Zade said as he grabbed the datapad from Sarval, "It's still far less than the majority though."

"We are outnumbered. What can we do?" Master Hub-Hud asked.

"It would seem that our best option may be to address out complaints with the Galactic Senate." Zade suggested.

"The Senate?" Master Koppler questioned, "They are ruled as the Republic just as the Council is now ruled by the Republic. If we pleaded with the Senate it will only fall on deaf ears."

"Not all deaf ears." Master Rabb'dra added, "Those ears that will hear it will belong the Council. They'll learn of our actions against them. Then all of this will be for nothing."

"That is true only if we ourselves address the Senate. So... we won't. It's well known that there are many senators and representatives that disagree with the way the Republic is handling these wars. That also includes the way they have asserted themselves into the Jedi Order." Zade explained.

"Are you suggesting working with a secret representative?" Master Xevioso asked.

"It is just a suggestion." Zade told them.

"It is true that there are a large handful of senators that would take up our cause." Master Sarval added.

"Yes, but just like our numbers, that is less than the majority. Even if we got some senators to side with us it wouldn't be enough." Master Koppler argued.

"Maybe not, but we can at least hope to plant some seeds of doubt in the senate's mind. It may not be a quick solution but it may give our little inchoate cabal some much needed aid and guidance." Zade explained.

"True," Master Koppler admitted, "At very least we may cause enough of a ruckus to take some of the Council's attention away from us and toward the disheveled senate."

Master Takie chirped and whistled to which her droid translated, "Now, now. We dont' want to cause a war within the senate."

"No. I'm not suggesting that we would should aim for that... I'm just saying that it could happen. If it does it might help us." Master Koppler said with a slight grin on his face.

"In the short run, yes." Master Wennsis told him, "But in the long run we'll just be trading our problems from a corrupt Council to a bickering senate... or both at the same time."

"Isn't the council already bickering back and forth, needlessly?" Annoli broke her silence and spoke. When every Jedi turned their head and looked at her, she realized that she talked when she should have just sat there and shut up.

"What the girl says is true, you know. It is the senate's job to bicker back and forth and get nothing done. Didn't you get the memo, Master Wennsis?" Koppler said to Wennsis.

Zade placed a hand on her knee and gave her a, "Sit there and know your place, young one", look. Master Borru gave her that look all the time. Annoli looked down at the floor and bit down on her lower lip as a remineder to silence herself. Zade then looked over to Koppler, "What I believe Master Wennsis was trying to say is, we have to be very careful with the senate. There is already allot of tension in the senate and we don't want to be the one that snaps that tension. Then that bickering turns to fights, then those fights lead to wars. The last thing we need need are more wars."

"It seems there are alot of, 'last things we need', out there." Master Wennsis sighed.

"So what do we think of this plan?" Master Sarval asked.

"I think it is a good first step. It may not work, but if it fails we should still remain a secret to the council." Master HUb-Hud said.

"I agree." Zade said.

"As do I." Master Koppler told them with a smile on his face.

They all ended up agreeing that "unofficaly" taking there case to a senator was the best course of action. At the end of the meeting it was decided that Sarval and Xevioso would scout out a senator that would likely help them and then present thier findings to Zade. He would then meet with the senator and present thier case to them. Annoli didn't quite understnad any of it. Politics were over her head. She was just honored that she took part in such a monumental movement. Well, monumental as long as they didn't fail... they couldn't fail...

\-V-/

I laid my head backward and rested it against the cool, steel, wall. I closed my eyes and began a calming meditation as I let nice, calming pulses flow through out my muscles and mind. I tried not to think too much, but I still couldn't escape my stress and my mind began getting cloudy once again. I had to shake the clouds out and began meditating again. I was just about to calm myself when I heard a taping on the door. I sighed in desperation as I got to my feat. I brushed myself to unwrinkle my pants and vest before I walked over to the door. Witha a smile I opened the door. On the other end of the door was neophyte Mun Orlen. She wore a black, sleeveless, robe over the same uniform she wore yesterday. She had a half look of anger and half look of confusion on her face as she extended her left hand to me. I looked down and noticed a piece of rolled up parchment paper clutched in her extended hand. With a lowered and agitated brow she asked, "What is this?"

I raised a single eyebrow in response, "Hmm?... Why, it looks a class schedule. Why do you ask, my fellow neophyte?"

She unrolled the piece of paper and showed me the back of it. The paper had black writing on the back. She asked me again with an even more frustrated expression, "What is this?"

I took the paper from her and looked it over. I signaled into my room, "May I invite you inside?"

She shook her head, "Uhh... I don't think so. I don't know who you think I am... but I'm not falling for that one."

I replayed what I was asking her back in my mind and realized I did come off a little creepy. As far as she knew I was a Sith through-and-through so I couldn't blame her for being weirded out... or so to say. I forced a pitiful chuckle and shrugged my shoulders, "Ahh, yeah. Sorry. What I meant to say is that if you really want to know what this letter is about, the hallway isn't quite the proper place to discuss things."

I gave her the paper back and waited for a response. She just stared at me, judging on whether or not if I was for real or just another untrustworthy, Sith, punk. Finally she sighed and gave me an uneasy look, "Yeah, all right. It's not like I have anything to worry about, I did beat you yesterday and I could probably do it again."

I smiled and gave her a polite nod of the head, "Fair enough."

She walked into room 66 and made her way over to the center of the room. I closed the door behind us and walked over to her. I signaled toward the desk in my room and offered her the room's only chair. She sat down while I stood there with my arms crossed over my chest. She looked up at me with all seriousness, "So...?"

"You want to know about the note I wrote on the back of your schedule?" I asked.

"First," She said, "How did you manage to even get a hold of my schedule in the first place."  
I scoffed, "Pssh! It isn't too complicated. I stole it, wrote it, and replaced it. The details are irrelavent as far as you're considered."

"Is that really all you are going to tell me?" She asked.

"About this, yes." I said with a grin on my face.

She squinted at me with a still cautious expression. She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her chin slightly, "So then, tell me about that letter. Something about the way I acted yesterday and how you are questioning my intentions on being here... you better explain, and explain well, because you are starting to get on my bad side."

I sat down on my bed and reached my right hand underneath the padded matress. She flinched at first, perhaps thinking I was withdrawing a weapon but I raised my hand to her, "Quit being so jumpy." She kept her eyes trained on my right hand as I removed a small, silver tin. I popped the top of the tin open and extended the tin to her, "As host, I would be remiss if I didn't offer you a snack."

She looked into the tin in my hand, "Are those the yabil choco snacks from the cafeteria? How did you get these?"

"Uhh... I stole them." I stated as I removed a small, round cluster of chocolate, and what are known as yabil crisps and popped it into my mouth. I have no idea what yabil crisps are, and maybe I don't want to know, but they are tastey!

She lightened up just a bit as she reached into tin and removed a hefty handful of the snacks. She took her time eating them one by one as she continued gazing at me with a dirty look in her eyes. I wish she'd take a break from her sour attitude for just a moment but I guess that was too much to ask for. I decided the best time to talk to her is while she was stuffing her face with junk food. I sat backward with my back against the wall, "The reason for the note is because of a feeling I get from you."

"What sort of feeling?" She mumbled through a mouthful of yabil snacks.

"Like I mentioned in the note, I don't believe this is where you belong. You're intensions seem distant from that of the Sith." I told her.

With a now empty mouth she responded in a somewhat cross tone, "Tssk! And what makes you an expert on my intensions?"

"I'm not." I told her, "Consider it a feeling of mine. I get the feeling that you are here out of a last resort and not by a craving for violence and power as the other Sith. When I'm surrounded by other Sith I sense danger and hatred all around me. You are an exception. Now, it could be that you are just skilled enough in the force to mask those feelings, just like you mask your fighting abilities, but I don't think that is it."

She shook her head, "Why are telling me this? What dose any of this matter?"

"I'm just offering you another option. An option away from the Sith." I told her.

I was taking a huge risk here but something was telling me what I was doing was right. That something could have been the force... or the sugar rush from so many yabil treats. Either way I could be wrong and this could lead to my demise. However, if the plan I had in mind worked out, one of two results could occur. Plan A; I'd gain an ally in Mun Orlen or Plan B; She'd turn me in and it would just jump start my last resort to destroy the Sith... which would basically just be me fighting the Sith to the death and taking as many of them down with me as I could before my life runs out. I was not a fan of the last resort.

T o my surprise... and to her credit, she didn't dismiss me right away. She stood up from her chair, put her hands on her hips, and looked down at me, "Another option? I assume you have more to explain."

I smiled, "Yes, I'm glad you are at least keeping an open mind."

"What have I got to lose just by listening?" She stated.

"I'm trying to destroy the Sith... I guess from the inside." I said bluntly.

She had a rather surprised look on her face and had to sit back down, "Umm... what?"

"It's a long story. Let's just say that in the war between the Sith and the Jedi... I would fall in the middle of it. At this point I don't care for either side but the Sith are by far the greater of the two evils. I believe they must be stopped."

"And?" She asked.

"I am offering you a chance to help me." I said.

She actually started laughing... right in front of me. She didn't try and to hide or stifle her laughter in any way, "A-Are you kidding me? This is ridiculous!"

I was surprised it took her this long to laugh at me. I smiled in response, "Think about it. Do you really want to be used and manipulated, do you want to murder and throw away everything... just to crawl atop the peak of a steep mountain."

"What's wrong with reaching the peek of the mountain?" She asked hesitantly.

I leaned over, looked her in her violet eyes, and spoke with a certain passion in my voice, "The Sith are just like a narrow, steep, mountain peek. You give everything to get to the top. Your energy, your blood, your life, everything! Then when you finally reach the top, when you've given everything to finally reach that peak, there is nothing else... No one can stand by your side because the peak is too small for more than one person at a time. Then what? You've used up every resource you had to reach the peak so you can't safely get back down. The only, the only, way to get back down... is to fall. Then someone else will take your place at the top and they will meet the same fate."

She chuckled, not a humorous chuckle but a sort of pathetic and lifeless chuckle, "Your little figurative comparison was... colorful but not accurate. The Sith may give up everything from one life but in return gain amazing power. They shed their old selves but gain a fresh, new start."

"True, but do you really believe it's a life worth living?" I countered.

"What other options are there in the force? For someone like me, I'm too old to be a Jedi. The Sith are the only ones who can teach someone like myself about the force." She told me.

So she was like Vayne? Vayne, who wasn't allowed into the ranks of the Jedi due only to his age. I nodded my head as if I understood her just a bit, "That would be the other option. Who says you have to be a Sith or a Jedi just to be a force user? I'm telling you that we could help each other."

For minuets she said nothing until she clasped her hands together underneath her chin, "Why? Why do you want my help? What can you really offer me? How do you really expect to get away with this? What is your exit plan? And how do I know you just aren't manipulating me just like every other Sith?"

"Uhh... t-those are allot of questions all at once." I stuttered.

"Were you expecting just a pretty face without a brain? How did you not expect me to ask these questions?!" She demanded.

"Hey!" I shot back at her, "I expected them... just not all at once. After all... I'm not just a pretty face, myself.", I said with a large grin on my face.

I swore I noticed a small smile creep across her upper lip but it didn't last very long. She grimaced and shot me yet another nasty look, "Answer my questions."

"All right." I took a deep breath, "I need your help because I can't do this alone, not realistically. Like you said, whether it was self indulgence on your part or not, your are not just a pretty face and you do have a brain. Your skill with a lightsaber, faux saber or not, is unmatched. When it comes to pure saber fighting technique, only Vedalt'e may be your better. As an ally you would be a great assistance but if you rejected my offer, you be an even greater hindrance."

"Go on." She said with a cocky smile.

"I know a thing or two about the force." I began, "Some things I know you can't learn either as a Sith or as a Jedi. Both of them like to lean on light abilities or dark abilities. They don't allow the other's type of teachings. The things I know... you can learn only from me. I'll teach them to you. I'm sure you felt it during our duel. A sudden and abrupt warning perhaps? You had no idea what it was. Neither did Vedalt'e when we dueled and it almost cost him our match. Much of what I know I've taught myself. What I can offer is abilities that are beyond the Sith teachings... or the Jedi for that matter."  
Again to my surprise, she was listening to me. Perhaps I was starting to convince her. I went on, "How will I get away with this? My current plans are few but they only revolve around myself. The more allies I gain, the broader my plans become."

"What kind of plans?" She asked.

"I can't disclose that just yet. If it helps my cause, I could tell you that I've bested the Sith many times before." I told her.

"But I'm sure nothing like before." She pointed out.

"Actually that is not true. Six years ago I took part in the battle that saw the demise of Darth Vultous." I confessed.

"What?" She was taken aback, "How? You must have been just a teenager back then."

"I was a Jedi padawan back then." I confessed.

She squinted at me, "You? You were a Jedi padawan?"

"I was cast out of the order by the council." I said, "I suppose that is why I know as many Jedi skills as I do. I have been taught by both sides, but am restricted by none."

"Let's pretend that I'm interested. You have yet to answer my biggest question. Why should I trust you?" She asked.

"At first..." I paused, "...you shouldn't. I've thought about how I could prove myself loyal but in this environment and under these circumstances, I don't believe I can right away. The best I can offer is an uneasy alliance. Work with me behind the backs of the Sith. If you still don't trust me after time passes, we can always settle it with weapons if need be."

She closed her eyes and groaned, "This... is complete lunacy. Did you really expect me to go along with this? Do you still take me for a fool?" She stood up from her seat and clenched her fists, "You have wasted my time. I won't turn you in because I doubt anyone would believe me anyways. However, don't talk to me again."

I sighed. Perhaps my feelings about this were misguided. As she began walking toward the door I stood up from my bed, "So that's that? You'd rather go back to a world where the winners have to slay their own kin just to climb that mountain and the losers are met with a painful and and cruel end?" She actually stopped in her place, so I continued, "Perhaps you aren't as smart as you think you are if you can't see that the worst that can happen by joining me is the same as if you fail the Sith. With me you'll at least have one ally, maybe more. If you walk out that door it is back to the one vs. everyone lifestyle of the Sith. Is the dark side really that important to you?"

With her back still to me. She stood up straight and rolled her shoulders back, almost in a stance of defiance, "That... that is a good point. If I fail the Sith I'll be executed. If I betray the Sith, I'll be tortured and then executed." She turned around, facing me, and looked me in the eye, "That little voice of the force is telling me that you seem like you are speaking the truth. I wish it wasn't! I wish it was telling me danger, this guy is crazy! Now I'm crazy for actually considering this."

I laughed, "So is that a yes to my offer?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe. You don't really expect me to give you an answer right away, do you?"

"It would be nice." I said with a full, toothy smile.

"I'll think about it..." She said flatly.

"How do I know you aren't going to go blab about me to the Sith?" I asked.

"Like I said, no one would believe me. At least not enough to do anything about it. It would be your word versus mine and neither of our words carry much weight as neophytes." She made a good point.

"I guess that is true. I'd deny it and even if they didn't believe me, I'd try and take you all down with me." I chuckled.

"I'll let you know tomorrow." She said as she turned around and reached her hand over to the door handle. As her fingers reached the handle she looked back over her left shoulder, "If this is some trick to stab me in the back, I will kill you neophyte..."

And with that she made her exit from my room. I had mixed feelings. I had no idea if I had really convinced her or nor... If I could trust her or not... If I could do this without getting the both of us killed or not... If this was a good idea or not... If I hadn't have just made a huge mistake that would eventually get me killed... uhh... or not. The force made me feel that what I was doing was right but being amidst the Sithrimi I was unsure if I was fully in touch with the force or if the Sithrimi was scattering my connection.

I wasn't really regretting my choice to try and recruit allies but I was worried about it. I couldn't go back on revealing my plans. All I could do is wait and hope Mun Orlen would join me. I believe what I said, the path of the Sith leads nowhere. I hope I helped her see that. Now... if I could only get Vayne to see that. I reached down underneath my shirt and pulled out my necklace. I grasped the wolf shaped pendant in my right hand and went back to my meditation. Something told me that tomorrow was going to be a big day...


	11. Chapter 12: Fate

Okay this one starts off a little dark and maybe a little confusing. Hopefully it doesn't ruin this chapter for you. So... please read, review, and check out my homepage : )

Where was I?... I had no idea. My eyes... I could... only see darkness. My ears... I heard nothing. My body... wasn't there. My mind... felt like it was only partly present. Everything felt distant. My surroundings were absent but I could feel, terror... heart ache... betrayal... confusion... and anger. Screams priced the silence. Yells and death cries echoed throughout my conscious. Then... what appeared to be orange and red blurs appeared in front of me. The blurs were so distant from my vision, but felt so close to me. Sight, sound, and feeling of my surroundings started to return. I felt like my body was starting to reform, slowly, but as my body started to reform itself I started feeling terrible emotions within myself and around me.

My mind was tearing away at it's self. I could feel these intrusive emotions posses my very being. I was angry, sad, confused, and most of all, I was afraid. I was afraid... of what? I couldn't tell. It felt like the something that I was afraid of, was missing in my own life, but somehow mattered greatly to these possessing emotions that began to feel like another self. A self that wasn't me... but rather just another version.

My reforming body got to a point to where I could the feel the things around me to a greater detail. I could feel the cloth of my clothing, a warm air that pricked at my flesh, small trickles of water pouring down my face, maybe tears? I wanted it all to stop. I wanted to stop reforming because it only made things more real. I was afraid of this reality. I wanted to rip myself from this nightmare but insted the nightmare suddenly became a harsh world. Without any warning, all of my senses returned and my body reached it fullest form. I could now fully witness everything around me... what I was witnessing... where I was... who I was with... and what I, I was doing!

I stood inside the Jedi Temple. Only this was not the Jedi Temple I knew. From the pillars to the carpet, everything seemed different and all of it was engulfed in flames. I stood atop a long set of stairs. From where I stood I could feel a wall of fire behind me that reached around me to my sides. Bellow me, down the stairs, I gazed upon the only section of the temple not ablaze. It was a large floor. A red carpet was set down the center of the floor. Sections of the carpet were also on fire. On, and around the carpet I could see Jedi. Jedi of all races, gender, and age. They seemed real but most of their faces were featureless. Everything but their sorrowful and sometimes scared eyes were missing. I could feel there emotions. Some were afraid. Some were angry. Many were confused. All of them were heart broken, as if they were betrayed.

For me, all I felt was an urgency and a need... a need to kill them. I didn't want to, but I had to. Were they betraying me? Was I betraying them? I didn't know. Without my mind knowing it, my body raised it's right hand in front of me. I looked down at my hand. My hand wasn't human. It felt foreign and monstrous. The hand was clad in black, as well as the rest of my body. In this foreign hand I held what appeared to be a lightsaber handle. To satisfy this need to slay them, I ignited the lightsaber. Blue flames erupted from the handle and shot forth toward the dozens of Jedi that stood before me. The blue flames engulfed every one of their bodies... from the Jedi Masters... to the younglings... I turned their bodies to ash.

I then realized what I had done. I murdered them! I dropped the saber to the ground and fell to my knees. I held my face in the palm of my hands as I began crying. Why did I need to do this?! I wiped the tears from my eyes as I took another look around. The blue flames mixed with the already blazing fire and together, they engulfed the floor bellow me. I sat there on my knees, surrounded by flames. Only the stairs bellow me remained untouched by fire. Soon I was going to be engulfed myself. I didn't care... or I didn't want to care. I was a bloodthirsty murderer and deserved death but I still had something to do. I wouldn't be allowed the release of death. I got back to my feat and was about to summon my lightsaber to my hand when I heard a howling from behind me. I spun around and saw the flames that once engulfed a hallway suddenly vanish. I was given a path.

I took one step forward toward the hallway when I heard lightsabers ignite behind me. I turned around again to see four more of the almost completely featureless Jedi leap from the flames to the stairs. They each held a colorless lightsaber as they charged up the stairs toward me. I looked for my own saber but couldn't find it. Was I helpless?

Right when the Jedi reached the step bellow me, I heard loud howls around me. From the flames an army of white bodies leapt before of me. They had the faces of monsters, of ghosts. I felt their souls. They were manufactured, but tortured. They reached their monster arms around the Jedi and leapt backwards into the fire. They dragged the Jedi with them into the fire as I could hear more screaming coming from the flames surrounding me.

The lives of other Jedi were not of my concern. I turned my back to the fire and walked into the hallway. It was dark. Very dark. The further I entered into the hallway, the less light I could see. I didn't like it. I hated it. I had to keep going though. At the end, just when the that last shred of light remained, I could just make out a figure in front of me. I couldn't make out any detail of the silhouette other than it was clad in robes. I was about to call out to it when a flash of violet light screamed from the darkness and struck my body.

I screamed in pain. I screamed in torture. I screamed for my actions and what I had done. Everything was dark again as I felt a those possessing emotions leave my mind and body. Just when I thought I was going to be lost in the darkness again, I felt my body jerk forward into a sitting position and my eyes snap open. It was dark but a small light above me illuminated my surroundings. I could see a desk, a few doors, a small lamp above my head, and a bed bellow my body. I was back in my room on Hyarsythe.

I looked down at my body, namely my right hand. Gone was the monster and back was my own flesh. I was drenched in sweat and felt a hollowness in my body. My stomach was churning and grumbling as I felt like I could vomit at any moment. I wanted to get up. I had to peel my blanket off my sweaty body as I stood from my bed. I reached over to the wall near my bed and hit a button causing the room's lights to turn on. I walked into my refresher and over to my room's only mirror. I looked at myself and didn't care for what I saw. My skin was sickly, pale white. My eyes were red from broken blood vessels. My wet, long, black hair was pasted to my skin. I looked sick. I felt sick. I could barley remember what happened to me. My mind was tired but it was racing so fast I couldn't catch up with my own thoughts. The only thing I knew was that my stomach hurt. I felt hungry, but wasn't sure if lack of food was my problem or not.

I went back into the main part of my room and over to my bed. I reached underneath the mattress and pulled out my tin full of snacks. Or at least I thought they were full. When I opened the tin all I saw were two yabil snacks. That wasn't enough. I was hungry... maybe. I knew the cafeteria was open at all hours and I wanted to clear my head so I decided to head there. I was already wearing shorts so I just grabbed a black shirt and slid it on. As I did this, I couldn't really remember much of what I had done just a second ago. All I knew was what I was doing and what I was headed to. I was getting dressed and I was going to get something to eat. I couldn't remember getting out of bed or going to the refresher even though I knew I had.

At some points I couldn't even tell what I was doing at the time. I was in a trance. Like breathing where my body knew to do it automatically. I was also acting that way. I was walking down the dark, cold hallway toward the cafeteria only on instinct. My mind wasn't there. My mind was off on it's own. I couldn't tell what I was thinking about though. I had too many things running through my mind for me to read just one thought. Eventually my mind realized what it was doing when a bright light snapped me from my trance. I looked around and saw I was standing in the lift. The doors were open and I could see the cafeteria. The lights were bright here. Bright enough to snap me back into my own body.

I was back to normal, a sleepy normal, but normal none-the-less. With my mind and body back, I remembered... I remembered my dream... or... It didn't feel like a dream. I didn't know. Whatever it was, the thought of it nearly brought me back to my knees. It all felt so distant, like lifetimes away from me, but it still felt so real. For a brief moment I thought it may have been a vision. A vision through the force? No, imposable. I had no training in visions and as distant as it felt, I don't think any amount of training for someone like me could wield that kind of result. It was just a nightmare. That was all it was.

"What are you doing here?" I heard near me.

Sitting at a table near the center of the room I saw Vayne eating a platter of food. I took a deep breath and staggered over to his table. I looked down at him and shrugged my shoulders, "I'm hungry."

He cocked his head to the side, "You okay? You look sick."

"Not really." I said with a tired tone of voice.

He signaled for me to take a seat, "Sit down. Eat something."

I sat down across from him and took a look at his platter of "food". It was just cold leftovers from the actual meals served in the cafeteria. As I reached over and took a chunk of some white meat I asked, "So why are you here?"

He sighed and slumped back into his chair. He looked around the table. Looking for someone. Nobody else was in the cafeteria. Only a single serving droid that wasn't paying any attention to us. He nodded his head toward me, "I couldn't sleep. I was thinking... about what you asked me."

With everything that happened tonight I forgot all about it. This morning, before I met with neophyte Mun Orlen, I talked to Vayne about the same thing. I told him my real plans and told him a bit about who I really was. I told him no more than I told Mun Orlen. I asked him for his help... and he asked me to leave. He was still upset that I was questioning his commitment to the Sith. I wasn't ready to give up on him though. I took a bite from the white meat, chewed, chewed, chewed, it was very dry, chewed, then swallowed. I then nodded my head toward him, "Oh yeah? So what did you think about?"

He rubbed his chin with his right hand and took a deep breath. He exhaled loudly before he began, "You know, when I was rejected by the Jedi I thought that was it for me. I wasn't going to be a Jedi and I wouldn't be able to fully understand the force. It wasn't long after that a Sith Seeker found me. They told me that I could become someone great. A hero to many. I had heard of the Sith and their reputation and wasn't interested, at first. I told them that I wouldn't be a part of the things that they were doing. I called them murders and gave them a few examples of stories I had heard about them. They put their own spin of those stories... and I bought into it."

He and I both took a bite of food before he continued on, "They kept talking, convincing, and I was eating it all up. They made the Sith sound so wonderful and justified in their actions. They offered me an opportunity to get off my planet and learn to harness my powers and become a great pilot someday. I agreed after thinking about it. They then took me aboard a cruiser and we left my planet. On the ship they made me swear myself into secrecy. I couldn't tell anyone about where I was going. They said it was for everyone's, including my own, protection. I realize now that if I said no, they'd have killed me. I said yes and they took me to Hyarsythe. I thought I was going to train in this secret military school or something. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The deeper I got in, the more afraid for my life I became. I tried lying to myself. I told myself that things would get better... but I've witnessed otherwise. Everything here is so tainted and evil. I realized that I'd either join the Sith or die. Not anymore."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, "Are you saying...?"

"It'll probably cost me my life but I don't care anymore. I'd rather die now then... I don't know... being forced to strike down my own sister in front of bloodthirsty Sith. I don't actually have a sister... but you get what I'm saying. So... I guess you are better than nothing."

I forced a grin on my face, "Such a great vote of confidence."

He extended his hand to me, "Partners?"

I slowly extended my hand toward him and shook his hand. Vayne gave me an odd look, "... Are you sure you are okay? You look intoxicated."

"I wish I were." I forced a laugh, "You... you don't want to know."

With food in my stomach I was already starting to feel better. Red was returning to my skin, my muscles were becoming more steady, and I felt just a little bit of my energy returning. Maybe it was just a bad dream caused by an empty stomach after all. Vayne stuck his finger in his mouth and removed a piece of meat from his gums, "So," he said as he took his finger back out, "What exactly are you planning?"

I sighed, "Uhh... I'm not sure just yet. I talked to neophyte Mun Orlen about joining... I'm not sure if she is planning to join us or expose us, or maybe neither. In case she dose turn me in, I kept your name out of it so you won't be caught. If she dose join us then I think I've got a plan."

"Orlen?" He thought back, "Isn't she the one that beat you yesterday?"

"Well... it was a draw. There was no loser... but yeah. That's her." I said with a half scowl.

"Why do you want her on the team?" He asked, "I don't have a problem with it. Just wondering."

"I get a similar fealing from her that I do from you. Like you don't belong here. Plus she is better with a saber than either of us." I admitted.

"Hmm... So I'm the pilot. She'd be the sword fighter. You would be... what is your talent again?" He asked with a smirk.

"Umm..." I shook my head, "Good question. I'd be the-"

"You'd be the Master." He finished for me.

"Master?" I repeated that word, "Master? If I'm the Master of the group, we're in more trouble then I realized."

Vayne gave me a single nod of the head, "All joking aside, you have taken the role as leader. You need to teach me, or us, the things you know. I don't know about her but I'm far from experienced."

I smiled and gave him a nod back, "Don't worry. Fortunately for us, my old Master taught me well in a short amount of time. The rest I taught myself. With out light or dark barriers to block us, we'll be able reach a point in the force that our Sith foes will never have imagined."

"So our end goal is?" He asked knowing the answer. He just wanted to hear it as added motivation.

I adopted a dark grin on my face and recited would would be our pledge, "Those who don't join us, those who stand in our way, they will fall before us. Hyarsythe shall be lost in the Apsus oceans. Together, we will kill the Sith... or if failure is our fate... we take as many Sith down with us as we can."

--

Phyress sat on her throne like chair inside of her room. As always, the only thing illuminating her room was the candlelight surrounding her throne. She wore a long, violet, and blood-red colored dress that covered most of her body, except for her hands. In her normal pattern, she wore something covering most of her face. This time it was a black, skull shaped mask that exposed only her mouth and chin.

She sat there with her eyes closed and mind open. She was reaching her mind through out the walls of Hyarsythe. She often tried to stay alert for anything going on inside her academy. She wanted to know about anything that she should be aware of. It used to be so easy. Any major fluctuation in the force that happened at Hyarsythe, she'd be able to notice with ease. Now a days it wasn't so easy. Recently whenever she attempted to reach out across Hyarsythe, something seemed to block her off. She wondered if the Sithrimi had some how altered in some manner and now acted against her. Or perhaps she was losing touch with the force. It couldn't have been Bast or Ollose, they weren't strong enough in mind to counter her. The only other way something else could be blocking her was that if-

Her thoughts were cut off as the doors to her room slid open. She snapped her eyes open and watched as the light from the lift pierced into the darkness of her room. She scowled as she noticed an unwelcome silhouette standing amidst the light. Phyress never flinched as the figure stepped out from the lift and into her room. The lift closed behind the figure and it's form was lost in the darkness. Footsteps echoed through her rooms as the figure came closer.

Phyress removed the scowl from her face as the figure entered into the candlelight. The figure's appearance was now made clear. It was a middle aged, human, female. She had sort, orange hair, pale skin, and wore an all black uniform. Her name, General De'Lia De'Kyte. De'Lia was Darth Vultous's general of military affairs. Phyress was unaware of her current roll but knew she still held the title of General. Phyress couldn't stand this women. She'd often stick her nose in Hyarsythe affairs even back to when Darth Vultous still reigned. She wanted any student that wasn't improving in the academy to serve in front lines. As cannon fodder if need be. She could never understand that Hyarsythe was secret and sending out useless students was too risky. They'd probably expose Hyarsythe. Phyress didn't like her being here but was informed yesterday of her arrival. Phyress donned a false smile on her face, "General, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"To what you owe?" De'Lia asked with a smug grin on her face, "I guess you owe your own incompetence, Lokindr."

Phyress no longer bothered faking a smile. She lowered her head and curled an upper lip, "Incompetence?! You come to my academy and dare insult me?"

De'Lia continued grinning, "I am here by order. It has been quite some time since Hyarsythe has produced any sort of quality knight. Hyarsythe used to be the top academy. Now it is the lowest form of training within the Sith. I'm ordered to inspect Hyarsythe and see if there are any worthy students. If my inspection comes up negative, then every student here will join the front lines and Hyarsythe will be eliminated. You along with it!"

Phyress stood up from her chair and walked over to De'Lia. She got close enough to where her skull shaped mask was inches away from De'Lia's face, "You? You?! How could a worthless, glorified, dirt general understand the ways of the dark side?"

Gone was De'Lia's grin and replaced was a scowl of her own, "How dare you call me a dirt general! I served the Sith in battle after battle why you sit in your chair all day, oblivious to our war! To our plight-"

Phyress smiled. She was pleased knowing that she got underneath De'Lia's skin, "This is my academy. This is my living space. If you raise your voice to me inside Hyarsythe's wall again, you... will... die."

"You can't rid yourself of me that easily. I'm the only thing keeping Hyarsythe alive. I'll be doing more for this academy with one inspection then you'll ever have done." De'Lia countered.

Phyress chuckled. She reached out behind her, toward her throne. Using the force she activated a button on the throne's arm rest. As she did a sudden, blue light filled the room as half, crescent shaped panels slid open across both sides of her room. The open panels revealed blue walls that surrounded the two Sith in a ring shape. They stood in the very center of this round room. De'Lia got a tingle down her spine as she closely inspected the blue walls closer. They weren't just walls, they were glass windows that were part of a giant aquarium.

At first De'Lia couldn't see anything inside the aquarium until a large snake like creature swam past the window just to the left of her. De'Lia gasped as the floor to both her left and right opened from the bottom. Two giant pools, about five meters around, were now exposed. Phyress laughed as two, large, black snake looking creatures popped out from the floor, one from each pool. They were about six meters in length and had fins running down there, strong, spineless bodies. Most notably they had two large, black fins that protruded from each side of their neck, just behind there head. Behind those larger fins were a set of gills. Their heads were also snake-like, flat, triangular, and had jaws that could unhinge to devour most prey. De'Lia had to take a few steps backs in defense as the started to slither over to her. Phyess quickly raised her left hand into the air, halting them. She laughed, "Stunning creatures, yes?"

"Wh-what are you doing? You can't kill me!" De'Lia snapped.

"There isn't much land left of Apsus." Phyress began, "The majority of the planet is all water now and has been for many, many lifetimes. However these magnificent, unnamed creatures can survive on land, but not only land. They can also survive even at these depths. They have both gills and lungs. It seems impossible for any living thing to be able to survive under such conditions, land or deep water. Let alone the pressure that they must endure to go from the surface to the ocean deep. These beasts can though. That isn't even there most enduring quality, my dear. They flock to the dark side. They use the Sithrimi down here as a mating ground. They live with the Sithrimi, they are drawn to it, and feed off it's power. It makes them insane and hungry but they can destroy any other sea dwelling creature in these oceans. In fact, at this moment, and every moment, the outside hull of Hyarysthe is blanketed with them."

De'L'ia clenched her fists, "So you took them as pets?!"

"Why not?" Phyress laughed, "What else am I supposed to do with the failures and corpses of this academy? After all, they are so very hungry. As I said, the Sithrimi has that effect on them, dear. And if you ever raise your voice to me in my living space again, I'll have them crush your body and swallow you alive. They have such simple minds and I can manipulate them with a simple thought and flick of the wrist. Do not test me."

De'Lia grabbed onto the jacket of her black uniform and gave it a tug, tugging out any wrinkles as if to regain her composure, "I'm not listening to your threats, Lokindr. I'm here on order and if you killed me you'd only be hurting yourself."

"True." Phyress said as she lowered her hand to which the snake-beasts slithered back into their pools. The floor and walls then closed, bringing the room back to darkness. Phyress laughed, "They are full anyways. They had their fill off the corpse of a failed apprentice." She then laughed again to herself, "It was... pre-cooked."

De'Lai looked ill, "I don't care about your pets. I'm just here on-"

"-On order! Yes, I get it!" Phyress interrupted, "Tell me, do you even know who is calling the shots these days? Who is ordering you? Who is our Dark Lord?"

De'Lia looked away from Phyress and clenched her jaw, "That... I do not know. I've only seen the silhouette of them. I know not of their name or what they look like. Only a few close guards know of who this individual is."

"Doesn't that seem... odd?" Phyress asked her.

"Well, this is one thing to which we both agree. I don't know why our Master keeps him or herself hidden, but it makes me nervous. How can we serve that which we don't know?" She stated.

"They must be powerful because they did manage to slay Darth Vultous's apprentice to take rule of the Sith. She was very powerful and couldn't have been slain by any fluke, weakling." Phyress pointed out.

"Don't try and change the subject, Lokindr. I'm here to inspect your students so lets get on with it." She demanded.

"That is a shame." Phyress said with a smile, "You just missed our arena day, just yesterday. That would have been your best opportunity. I'm afraid we don't have another one scheduled until a few weeks from now."

"Well, " De'Lia forced a fake smile, "Schedule another one."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. The students need time to retrain themselves so they can improve on themselves. You'll just have to come back another time." Phyess said.

De'Lia shook her head, "No. If anything I'll be staying here until then. I'll get a better view of your training regiment and then after a few weeks have passed and I've witnessed the final product... then I'll make my decision."

Phyress rolled her shoulders back and stood up straight, "Very well. I'm sure there are open living quarters among the neophytes. The rooms are uncomfortable and small but I'm sure a tough one like yourself will have no problem with it."

De'Lia turned her back to Phyress and walked away. Just as she reached the doors of the lift she spoke back to Phyres through the darkness, "Don't worry Phyress. I'm sure the other Masters will do their best to support you as headmaster. It's not like they hold any hatred toward you."

De'Lia laughed to herself as the lift doors slid open. Her form took shape of the silhouette as she entered into the lift before the doors closed behind her. As soon as De'Lia De'Kyte had left, Phyress thrashed her hands in front of her, spewing out bolts of lightning before her. The forks of lightning sprawled out and struck every candle sticks around her. This knocked the candles over and put out every flame, leaving Phyress in complete darkness. Phyress screeched out in frustration over this new situation. She was having enough problems with Bast and Ollose, she didn't need an even greater hindrance in De'Lia. To make it even worse, this was all happening after Kali's demise and Moyi turning her back to her.

She regretted not killing Moyi for her betrayal. Now Moyi belonged to Bast as he took her as apprentice. If she now struck Moyi down personally it would show weakness in their competition. Phyress needed someone else to do it. Not just Moyi, Phyress needed them all dead, Ollose, Bast, De'Lia, and there was no reason that she couldn't even slay the new Dark Lord and take their place as ruler of the Sith. Maybe Phyress was getting sloppy at running Hyarsythe but that was only because it was becoming boring and monotonous. "Ruler of the Sith", fitted the name of Phyress Lokindr so much better, and she would use anybody to achieve that title. She needed a new apprentice...


	12. Chapter 13: Renegade Jedi

Please tell me what you think of this chapter and the story so far.

Zade watched with crossed arms as Annoli sat on the ground of the abandoned room inside the Jedi Temple. The same room that the renegade Jedi had taken as a base. At the moment only Annoli and he were present in the room. They were still waiting on Master Sarval and Master Xevioso's results on their search for a senator. In the meantime Annoli sat on the ground her with legs tucked underneath her as she sat on her knees. Her eyes were closed as she was meditating. Zade wanted to see how she meditated and if she needed any improvement. From what he could tell, Master Borru had taught her well. No big surprise. Other than saber techniques and life lessons Annoli didn't need too much more mentoring.

Annoli opened up her left eye, keeping her right closed, "So? Am I meditating right?"

Zade nodded slightly, "All right. I can tell you are forcing it a bit under the circumstances but you are doing fine. Just try to keep your mind clear. I know that is asking allot due our current situation. I've gotten you into some pretty unfortunate trouble, Annoli. I'm proud of how you are handling it. Not quite the brash, spitfire that I first took you for."

Annoli closed her eyes again and smiled, "Thank you, Master."

"Don't get me wrong though... you are still rather brash and... well lets just call it, 'talkative'." Zade chuckled.

Annoli scoffed, "Yeah, well... All right. I guess I really can't argue with you. At least not this time."

Zade kept laughing, "See, you are already learning to bite your tongue."

Annoli shifted, uncomfortably in her place. Zade raised an eyebrow, "Something wrong?"

She shook her head, "Uhh, nothing. Never mind."

"Do you sense something?" Zade asked with interest.

Annoli opened her eyes and ended her meditation, "I'm not sure. Something feels wrong to me."

Zade nodded his head, "Yes. I've had those feelings looming over me for quite some time. Unfortunately there are so many dangers around us. It is hard to pin-point any single threat."

Annoli yawned and stretched out her arms, "Yeah... Well, that is why we need all the help we can get, right?"

Zade gave her a simple nod of the head, "Yes."

Annoli sighed, "I hope Master Sarval and Xevioso are doing well with their mission."

Shortly after she said that the room's door slid open. Zade turned around to face the Jedi knight, Koppler. He had his usual, cocky smirk on his face, "Hello, everyone... or the two of you."

"Good afternoon, Master Koppler." Zade greeted.

Koppler bowed to him and then to Annoli. He then addressed Zade, "So, any word yet?"

"Not yet." Zade told him, "By the Force, we'll be fortunate if we can get a senator to side with us and still keep our involvement sub-rosa."

"Have you thought of a back up plan in case they find out about us." Koppler asked.

"If they find out about us I'd assume we'd be branded traitor and cast out of the order. Even if that happened I would still attempt to gain the support of the senate. Though, we would no longer hold as much weight with our words being branded a traitor. If that dose not work... I do not know." Zade confessed.

"Oh, great." Koppler scoffed.

"Hey!" Annoli retorted, "If you can't come up with an idea of your own you shouldn't criticize others."

"Well, if you are asking. I do have an idea." He sais with another smirk.

Zade raised his hand to silence the two of them, "Enough! Annoli, speak with some respect when you talk to a Jedi Knight or Master. Master Koppler, I understand your frustration but I'm sort of afraid to hear what your idea would be. I'd imagine it would be an all out war and battle with the council and let the last group standing be the victor."

Koppler jerked backward and stammered, "I, uhh... Th-that would be a more bold version of my plan but, sort of."

Annoli chuckled to herself only to get a scowl from both of the elder Jedi. She quieted herself and wiped the smile from her face. Zade turned his attention back to Koppler, "Let us just put our trust in Master Sarval-Styr and Master Xevioso. I trust them, don't you?"

Koppler reluctantly nodded is head, "Don't get me wrong. I believe those two can do almost anything they set their minds to but I believe the same for the council. I'm know they are keeping a close eye on all of us. Especially Master Sarval-Styr and yourself, Master. They know something is up. If we aren't carful we'll end up dying in battle just like Master Quint."

Zade's face went blank, "Master Quint has passed?"

Koppler somberly took a step back, "You didn't know? I'm sorry. During battle she was slain by a group Sith Marauders. It happend just last night."

Zade took a deep breath and sighed, "I see."

Koppler forced a smile, "I guess we just can't afford to get caught."

"I suppose not." Zade agreed.

A moment later, a small chirping, click sounded from inside Zade's robe. Zade reached into the left, dark blue, fold of his vestment and pulled out a small holo-device. Annoli got to her feat and hopped over next to them, "Is that who I think it is?"

Zade held the small, triangular, device in the palm of his hand and hit a button on the bottom. With a crackling sound, a fuzzy, black and white image of Master Sarval-Styr appeared above the holo-device. Zade raised an eyebrow, "I assume you have something to report?"

The image of Sarval nodded his head, "Yes. I won't report in full at this moment. Sec.5043700."

With that said the image fizzled away. Annoli and Koppler both exchanged confused glances. Koppler was first to ask, "What was that last part?"

"Sec.5043700." Zade repeated, "This is an un-secure device and the signal could easily be picked up by a foreign device. So to prevent our being found out, we made our own code. Sec, is short for 'section' which is code for, 'division'. The fallowing number is a jumbled address. Just remove the first and last two numbers and reverse the order of the reaming numbers. It's a simple but hopefully effective code."

"So... wait, what?" Koppler asked.

"Sec.5043700 equals, Division 734. Master Sarval and Master Xevioso must have succeeded in gaining the support of a senator. Division 734 is the address in which we can meet them." Zade explained.

"When?" Koppler asked.

"Master Sarval never mentioned. So, that either means we leave right away... or he forget that part of the code.' Zade said.

"Great." Koppler muttered.

Zade turned to face Annoil, "Annoli, Master Koppler and I will go to this address. I want you to stay here and wait for the others to arrive. When they get here I want you to inform them of Master Sarval's findings."

Annoli was visibly disappointed that she wasn't coming along but understood her role, "Yes, Master."

Zade gestured to Koppler, "Well then, let's go Master Koppler."

"I assume you at least know where we are going." Koppler stated.

"Yes. The divisional apartments. This is where the senators stay while on Coruscant." Zade told him.

--

An hour or so had passed since Zade and Koppler left and Annoli was still alone in the secret room. She was bored. She was laying back on the room's carpeted floor with her legs crossed and arms folded behind her head, giving it support from the ground. She wished there was at least a holo-vision in this room. Anything to pass the time. Annoli tapped her feet together in complete boredom. She could meditate but she didn't care to feel that looming danger all over again. Whether she wanted it to or not though, another sense of danger crept up on her. Even out of meditation she felt a cold warning.

She snapped into and upward, sitting position as the room's doors slid open with a hiss. Annoli felt her stomach drop as she saw Master Cled Amousous walk into the room. Annoli's face fell with each step the broad, red maned, brute-like, Jedi council member took toward her. Cled armored himself with an obviously forced smile across his grizzly and rock-like face. That smile was no more warming than it was genuine. Annoli wasn't buying it. She was playing along though, "Master Amousous... wh-what are you doing here?"

"Me?" He said. Still with that creepy smile, "I just wanted to know what was so fascinating about this room."

"Pardon?" She asked.

"Well the council, who has eyes and ears through out the temple, have noticed lately that many Jedi seem to be meeting in this room quite often. I'm just curious. Though looking around, I just don't see it."

Annoli knew what he was getting at. He was obviously suspecting foul play by the renegade Jedi and came to inspect the room. He also decided to talk down to her, like a child. She had to come up with a good cover, fast. She stood up from the ground and pointed around the room, "This room, Master? I asked Master Rad'hyth for my own room and he said this one was abandoned."

"That is because of it's awful location. Terrible for a living environment. Though it's secluded location could be perfect for other reasons." Cled stated, finally dropping that phony smile.

"What other reasons?" She asked with a naive tone of voice.

"Doesn't matter." He said, "It must be uncomfortable living without any furniture of any sort."

"I'm getting some. I just moved in." Annoli said. She knew he was going to be asking a bunch of questions in an attempt to catch her in a lie.

"I see." He folded his hands behind his back and leaned forward toward her, like she was a small child and spoke to her in a very condescending tone, "You must be very, very popular with the Jedi to recieve so many visitors. Sometimes in large groups."

She was struggling not to spit in this jerk's face but that would be bad a bad idea for many reasons. The main reason being the fact that he could take her out, with ease. If she had a lightsaber and he, only his bare fist. He would win hands, no pun intended, down. She just shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe. I think most of them just wanted to wish good things for me because they knew Master Borru."

Cled took a step back. Annoli thought that he seemed disappointed that she had a decent and somewhat believable answer to each of his questions. She was a little proud of herself for keeping her composure... so far. Cled seemed to be thinking to himself for awhile before he stomped his foot down and started down at her, "Listen, girl. The council knows."

Annoli was afraid at first, and remained so, but she was able to keep her cool. She continued with her naive character and shrugged her shoulders again, "Know what?"

"Do you take the council as fools?" Cled demanded, "We know something is up and I want to know what and I want to know now!"

Behind him the doors hissed open. Before either of them could see who it was, a familiar, female voice scoffed, "Cled, is this what you are reduced to?"

Cled turned his head over his shoulder and Annoli looked over Cled's other shoulder toward the doorway. There stood a rather welcome sight to Annoli. The one eyed Master Wennsis walked over to them, "Picking on little girls. More brawn than brains and the manners of a rancor, eh?"

(Rancor example: /meta/rd/expand/expand.html?worlddatabank&img/databank/creature/rancor/img/moviebg.jpg&widthundefined&heightundefined&importundefined )

Cled rolled his shoulders back and scowled at her, "Master Wennsis. What a timely appearance. I was just asking the padawan here about this room. The council never approved of anyone occupying this room."

Wennsis grinned, "That's because room assignments aren't the council's concern."

"I was just telling Master Amousous that I was living in this room now and how supportive you and the other Masters were of me. Being Master Borru's former padawan and all." Annoli explained to Wennsis.

"An interesting tale." Cled said through clenched teeth.

Wennsis rolled her eyes... or eye, "A tale? Are you really that ignorant Cled?"

"Master Amousous!" Cled corrected.

"Whatever." She replied before reaching into her dark cherry colored robes and pulled out a small, black box with gold trimming around each corner. She walked over to Annoli and handed her the box, "Look, I brought her a welcoming gift and everything. Why would I do that unless she was living here?"

"Well then. What's inside?" Cled asked curiously.

"That is none of your business, Master Amousous." Wennsis countered.

Cled stared at the box, now in Annoli's hands. Annoli yanked the box behind her back and out of his sight. She cocked her head to the side and smiled, "Yeah!"

Cled chuckled to himself and shook his head, "Well, I guess you are sticking to your story. I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Everything has been put into play anyways."

Wennsis's body language turned agitated and unraveled, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Cled said nothing. He just walked away, slamming his broad shoulder against Wennsis's much smaller body as he passed her by. As soon as he left and the doors slid closed behind him, Wennsis turned quickly to face Annoli, "His words make me nervous. Where is Zade?"

"He and Master Koppler went to meet with a senator willing to hear us out." Annoli told her.

Wennsis frowned, "I wonder..."

Annoli held the box out in front of her, "Is this really a gift for me?"

"No." Wennsis said as she snatched the box from Annoli's grip and tucked it back into her robe.

Annoli was disappointed, "Ah, dang."

"Do you know exactly where they left for?" Wennsis asked.

"Uhh..." Annoli scratched her head, "Division... 4... 70? 407? I defiantly remember it started with a four and I think there was a seven somewhere."

"Good enough." Wennsis told her.

"Why?" Annoli asked.

Wennsis turned her back to Annoli and started for the door, "C'mon padawan, we're leaving."

--

Zade and Koppler walked side by side down a large and luxurious hallway. The hallway had a royal blue rug that reached from wall to wall and corner to corner. The ceiling and walls were silver in color with a golden door set into the walls every seven meters. There was also a heavy scent of a citrus like cleaning product that filled the air. The two Jedi could smell it with each step they took. The lights were bright enough to force the light sensitive Koppler to wear his green, light reduction, visor-like, glasses. Koppler took a sniff of the air and coughed, "Whoa. There must have been a dead body in hear at one point to warrant this much cleaning solution."

Zade paid no attention to Koppler. Instead he focused on the number on every door on the right side of the hallway. He was counting down each number, 740, 738, 736, and then finally 734. Zade stopped while Koppler kept walking, not noticing they had arrived. As soon he realized he jogged back to the door and stood beside Zade. Zade smirked, "So glad you could join me."

"Hilarious." Koppler responded sarcasticly.

"Here it is. The 700 senator division, room 734." Zade said.

"So which senator lives here?" Koppler asked.

"No idea." Zade told him. He reached over to a panel on the wall beside room 734's golden door and hit a small yellow button. A gentle ringing tone buzzed from the panel. Zade smiled, "Hopefully we'll find out."

They waited for only a moment before the door slid open. Before them stood a female Twi'lek clad in dark green and icy blue formal gowns. She appeared to be around the same age as Zade. Like most Twi'lek she had a unique skin pigmentation, her skin was a pale violet color, also a pair of prehensile tentacles that grew from the base of her skull called, lekku. Many Twi'lek would use there lekku to communicate in a language all their own. Zade smiled and bowed his head, "Ah, Senator Sienn Parra. I shouldn't be surprised."

(note: Here are what Twi'lek can look like: images./starwars/images/7/73/OrnFreeTaa.jpg )

"You know her?" Koppler asked.

Senator Parra chuckled to herself, "If I remember correctly he-"

Zade coughed loudly and interrupted her, "NOW-now! No use in bringing up the past. May we come in?"

Koppler raised an eyebrow in maniacal curiosity, "Oh?"

She took a step aside from the door and signaled them inside, "Please, enter as you wish."

Zade quickly walked into the room, followed by Koppler. The inside was much like the hallway. The room had silver walls and a dark blue rug that covered the floor. The entrance led into a small room with stone statues of three twi'lek and a human, placed in all four of the room's corners. Senator Parra pointed to a room adjacent to the entrance. Through the archway, Zade noticed a long, blue sofa in front of a wall that was basically just a large window that overlooked Coruscant. Sitting at that couch was Master Sarval-Styr and Master Xevioso. Zade walked into that room, again followed by Koppler. Master Xevioso gave them a bow of the head, "Welcome Zade... Master Koppler."

"You sound thrilled to see me, Master Xevioso." Koppler complained.

"That's not true at all." Xevioso insisted.

Zade noticed a bothan standing behind him near the archway he just walked through. The furry, long eared, long nosed, equine faced, humanoid wore a similar dark green and icy blue uniform. The bothan extended a hairy hand to Zade and spoke a very gurgly galactic basic, "Welcome, Master Jedi."

(note: Bothan images./starwars/images/0/03/BothanNEGAS.jpg )

He then repeated the process with Koppler. Senator Parra fallowed into the room and patted the bothan on the shoulder, "This is my assistant and second, Yaulba Goorare."

Master Sarval stood up from the sofa, "Senator Parra, if we could discuss what we were talking about earlier, with Master Rad'hyth."

"Ah, yes." She said before signaling to the furniture around the room, "Everyone please take a seat."

Zade and Koppler both took a seat on a sofa across from Sarval and Xevioso. Senator Parra sat down on a chair close to Sarval. Yaulba continued to stand. The senator took a deep breath and sighed, "Master Xevioso, Master Sarval-Styr, and I have been discussing a few things before your arrival. I knew that the Republic and the senate have both been manipulating the Jedi Council but I had no idea it had reached this point. The Jedi are the galaxy's shield and sword against the Sith."

"A shield and sword that's become rusted and corroded thanks to the council." Xevioso mentioned.

"It's to the point where the Jedi Order fears it's own head. My life has been been put in danger many times just because I speak against the council." Zade added.

"Normally," Sarval began, "we try to keep our affairs out of the senate. With these wars the last thing the senate needs to do is fight over our problems. The Jedi should be viewed as a symbol to the rest of the galaxy that there is always hope and good left no matter what storm hits. Even after the Jedi Civil Wars, we were viewed across the galaxy as... at least somewhat stable and reliable. Now we need to cadge the senate for assistance."

"Perhaps that's your problem." The senator said with a faint smile, "The Jedi Order takes too much burden onto their shoulders. Do you believe you are too high and mighty to ask for help?"

"You speak very veracious words, Sienn... err, Senator Parra." Zade corrected himself.

Sarval nodded his head, "The truth is the Jedi Order has become a little-"

"Full of themselves?" Sienn said with a stifled laugh.

"Yes..." Koppler said with a sigh, "I know, that's a bad habit of mine."

"As I was saying," Sarval continued, "I believe that if the way of things continue, many innocent Jedi will meet an untimely fate."

"Like Master Quint." Koppler pointed out.

Sarval and Xevioso both had a look of surprise on their faces. Just like Zade, they hadn't of heard of her death either. Xevioso lowered his head for a moment, "Ah, this is more unfortunate news."

Sienn lowered her head too, in respect for the lost Jedi. She didn't even know Master Quint but respected the Jedi enough to mourn a lost one. Only a few moments later she raised her head, "I've been protesting the Republic's actions for a while now. I'd like to help you but I'd need more to present to the senate."

"Things are only made more difficult by the fact that you wish to keep hidden in this affair." Yaulba said abruptly, "Do you believe Senator Parra to be able to do much if none of you step forward and present yourselves to the council?"

"Yaulba!" Sienn protested her assistant's harsh words.

"He's right." Zade said, "If we can have only one of us step forward as a witness we can at least hope to keep the rest of us a secret."

Koppler shrugged his shoulders, "Count me out. A Jedi Master is the only one fit for this job."

Zade was about to volunteer when Master Sarval interrupted him, "Zade is out too. He has a padawan to think about."

Zade sighed. Sarval was right. If he made his actions public Annoli would be in the same amount of danger as he. Xevioso stood up, "I'll do it. The Republic is a warmongering group and worship their war medals and ranks more than anything. They'll most likely listen to someone who's a beast on the battlefield. I fit that description more than anyone here."

"You make a very good point, you animal." Koppler joked.

Sienn smiled, "Very well. The next assembly is in three days. Master Xevioso will accompany me and together, we'll make our argument to the-"

As Sienn was talking, Zade had a flash in his mind. An image followed the flash. The image was of a group of beings walking though the hallways just outside the room. Zade stood up from his chair and scowled, "Unwelcome guests."

"Wha?" Koppler asked before everyone heard a gentle ringing tone from the panel near the entrance.

Zade singled for everyone to remain sitting, "I'll get it. Everyone stay here."

The others all exchanged curious looks. The three Jedi placed a gentle hand on their lightsaber just in case. Seeing this, Yaulba placed his hand on a blaster strapped to the left side of his belt. Zade gently crossed his arms across his chest and slid his hands into each hand's opposite sleeve. Zade walked over to the door and hit a button with his right elbow that caused the door to slide open. On the other side was the bald headed, human, male, Jedi Master Goullovan of the Jedi council. Behind him was a platoon of Republic soldiers, blasters drawn. Goullovan had a large grin on his face and spoke with false sincerity, "Oh... Master Rad'hyth. I was so hoping the rumors were not true. Here you are though, conspiring against the Jedi Council."

"That's a might claim there, Master Goullovan. I'm here visiting an old friend and talking about issues with the senate. A perfectly legal issue. Why are you here?" Zade asked.

"You know why. Did you really think you could hide your actions? You take the council for fools." He replied.

"Interesting. Still haven't answered my question though." Zade told him.

"I'm here to place you, every other Jedi here, and the senator under arrest. Resist and I'm authorized to use deadly force." He said as he finally got to the point.

Zade was sick to his very core. As he looked on with his own eyes as Goullovan stood side by side with Republic soldiers, he realized they couldn't win this way. The Jeid Council and the Republic had become one, assimilated, faction. Protesting was no longer an option. Things were past that. Zade looked defeated but he wouldn't remain defeated for long. He gazed deep into Goullovan's eyes, "This is it? I don't think you really plan on having us live to make our cases of defense to anyone, do you?"

Goullovan said nothing. Zade looked past Goullovan toward the Republic soldiers. They were clad in full, dark blue blaster armor. Each piece of armor had yellow and orange marks paint on them. They wore blue helmets with a large black visor covering there faces. Zade tried to peer through there visors and tried to look them in the eyes. He could feel regret and pain in their hearts. They were all tools in this. Zade smiled and spoke to them, "I understand you all have a duty and respect what you must all do."

Goullovan signaled to his troops, "Go inside. Bring me the others. If even the senators resists, use deadly force!"

Zade stood in the doorway and he didn't budge even as the soldiers walked up to him. One solider raised his blaster to Zade, "Please sir, let us pass."

Zade stood his ground. He closed his eyes and reached out with the force. He needed help. He knew their capture would result in death and needed an escape. He got his help when the force called out to him with an answer on what to do. He sighed, "May I ask one more thing Goullovan?"

The soldiers stopped their advance and waited for their commander's response. Goullovan nodded his head, "Sure."

"Have you heard about Master Quint's passing?" Zade asked with a calm tone of voice.

Goullovan chuckled, "Too bad about that one. She really was a nosey one. She got received the death she deserved, as will you, Master Rad'hyth."

Zade grinned, "Good answer!"

Before anyone could make sense of Zade's reply, Zade removed both of his hands from his sleeves, only they weren't empty. He had two, smaller, lightsaber handles in each hand. They were smaller to fit only one hand each. They were perfect for duel wielding weapons. Before the soldiers or Goullovan could respond, Zade ignited the two, yellow blades from his sabers. In an immediate response, the three other Jedi ran into the room with sabers ignited. Goullovan, anticipating a battle, reached for his own saber. Before he could reach it, he felt a tug at his belt. He looked down to see his lightsaber missing from his belt. Another hiss of a lightsaber echoed through Goullovan's ears as a white saber blade was placed just inches from his neck. Goulovan looked to see Master Wennsis holding the saber placed at his neck. Next to her was padawan Fennal, holding his lightsaber handle. She pillaged it from him! He had a look of disgust on his face as his soldiers dropped their blasters to the ground in surrender. They had lost control of the situation and Zade was glad they weren't foolish enough to fight the Jedi.

Annoli giggled as she waved Goulovan's saber in front of him, "Some Jedi Master! Losing his lightsaber? Careless, careless, careless!"

"You can thank Cled's big mouth for tipping us off." Wennsis added.

Zade pushed his way through the soldiers to reach Goulovan. He reached back into his sleeves and pulled out the same triangular device that he used to receive the message from Sarval a few hours ago. He pushed a button on the device causing Goulovan's voice to stream from it's speakers, "Oh... Master Rad'hyth. I was so hoping the rumors were not true. Here you are though, conspiring against the Jedi Council."

Zade then turned the device off and slid it back into his robe but kept a hand hidden in his robe, "Every word we spoke is recorded. Where you implied Master Quint's death was warranted just because she was nosey. Where you threatened a senator with deadly force and so much more. I'm sure the senate will love to hear this."

"It won't matter. The Republic has the senate tied around it's finger." Goulovan said with a smirk.

Zade laughed as he removed his hand from his robe, still grasping the device, "And I just recorded that too!"

"Not too bright are you?" Wennsis taunted.

Goulovan slumped over and said nothing. Zade looked over to Annoli and Wennsis, "Thank you, Master Wennsis and great work Annoli."

Annoli smiled back, "Yes, Master!"

Keeping his green blade pointed at the soldiers, Sarval made his way over to Zade, "What shall we do with them?"

"I have an idea." Sarval said with a grin.

--

Goullovan opened his eyes hours later. He could barley breath as he was face down in blue carpet. His mouth was open and his face was covered in his own drool. He attempted to move his body, but nothing bellow his neck would respond. He rotated his neck every so slightly, just so he wouldn't be face down in the carpet any more. As he did he could see his Republic troop bound in restraints. He suddenly remembered what happened. Zade and his group took the soldiers own restraints from there belts and bound them with it. They also took tranquilizers from the soldier's utility belts and injected him with enough tranquilizers to put a wookie into a deep slumber.

The soldiers could do nothing but watch as Goullovan struggled to turn himself over onto his back. He called out to his troops, "H-help me!"

"We can't sir." A female trooper responded.

"Wh-where are they? Where d-did they go?" He stammered.

"Along with the Senator and her assistant, they left. Hours ago." The same trooper answered.

Goullovan cursed to himself as he managed to push himself up by his elbows, "I need to contact the council."

"Master Kol'Tyuk was here earlier to check on our success. Once he found out we failed, he left in a hurry. I don't think he even called for back up to come get us." A nikto solider responded.

"He wasn't to happy with you, Master Goullovan." The same female soldier added.

"Yes. I got that!" He shouted back in frustration over his failure. The council was going to be upset with his failure as it was. If they ever found about what he was caught saying on Zade's device, he would be thrown off the council. He had to find Zade before he distributed that voice clip, if he already hadn't.

Zade sat back into a plush, padded chair and took a huge sigh of relief as the ship he was on jumped to hyperspace. Sitting around him in identical chairs were Master Sarval, Xevioso, Koppler, Wennsis, Annoli, and senator Parra. Her assistant was on the ship too but in the cockpit. After they bound Goullovan and his troops, everyone had to quickly escape Coruscant. They were wanted and it was only a matter of time before the council learned of Goullovan's failure. When they did they would double their efforts to find them. So they escaped to the nearest space port where Sienn had her own ship docked. It wasn't large but it was very luxurious.

The thing that worried Zade was that it had no weapons. Though it was well shielded. Zade wished he had enough time to at least be able to grab a smaller fighter to accompany and guard the cruiser. If it came down to an encounter with the Republic in space, Zade hoped to at least act as a decoy while the others escaped. But he had no time to take a fighter.

Yaulba's voice echoed through speakers placed inside the section of the ship where they sat, "Master Jedi, I contacted and warned every Jedi that you requested. It would appear that none of them have been captured. At least not yet."

As they were leaving Coruscant, Zade asked Yaubla to contact the other renegade Jedi to warn them that the council knew about them. It was a relief to everyone aboard the ship to hear that everyone had been warned. They on the other hand were headed to Esseles, the planet which senator Parra represented. It was a risky move because it would be the first place anyone would look for them. On the other hand, the Republic wouldn't be able to act right away. Esseles was a rich planet and very valuable to the Republic. The planet had a ship depot and weapons facility used by the Republic forces. Zade couldn't see the Republic risking making Esseles an enemy by invading. The council was another matter. They were more unpredictable than the Republic. Zade had to just trust his feelings and they were telling him to go to Esssles.

Zade looked to his immediate right and saw his padawan. She still had Goullovan's lightsaber with her. Zade chuckled at the look on Annoli's face, "Nervous, padawan?"

She nodded her head, "A little. This is beyond anything that Master Borru and I went through."

Wennsis leaned over from her chair and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You did very well, Annoli. You remained calm and even managed to hide yourself enough to disarm Goullovan of his own lightsaber."

She smiled, "Thank you, Masters."

Annoli wasn't the only nervous one. Sienn was noticeably shaken. She was a senator, not a soldier. She had never been in a situation like this before. Even worse, she had her planet's safety to look after. She was taking an even larger risk than the Jedi by returning to her home planet. Zade reached forward to the chair in front of him where she was sitting. He placed a hand on her shoulder and sent a calming wave through her body, "Senator. Everything will be all right. If worse comes to worse we will turn ourselves in. Your planet won't be harmed."

She nodded her head is response but didn't say anything. Zade removed his hand and crossed his arms over his chest and tucked his hands into his sleeves. Annoli pointed to his sleeves, "So what are you going to do with that recording?"

"Nothing for now." Zade told her, "I could send it to every member of the senate but without us there to back it up, the council could easily spin this to make themselves look innocent. Then it would be worthless."

"I don't like having it though." Xevioso stated, "The longer we have it, the more the council is going to want it destroyed."

"That is if Goullovan even mentions it to the other council members." Sarval pointed out.

"That's true." Zade said, "The only ones who know about this is us, Goullovan, and his soldiers."

"Do you think those soldiers are going to keep silent? They were witness to a pretty massive event." Koppler protested.

"Maybe." Zade responded, "It doesn't really change our goals though. We need to reach Esseles and if the council wants to come and get us, they'll have to do it alone. The Republic can't risk losing Esseles as an ally so they won't advance of the planet. There is enough of us here to stand against the council."

"And lets not forget about the other Jedi." Sarval mentioned, "Even if the ten of us were found out by the council I doubt they learned of the other 75 Jedi. Even if they did, they couldn't arrest all of them without declaring an all out war within the Order."

"It may come to that. Think of how crazy the council has become. They are twisted. Who knows what they'll do in an attempt to hold on to their power." Koppler argued.

"If that happened imagine what the Sith could do." Wennsis said, "They could exploit the Jedi disruption and advance in the war."

Zade raised his hands to silence them, "Enough! We can only afford to worry about the present."

It was very tiring for Zade to constantly be under the thumb of the council. Ever since Zade was named to the council he was persecuted by them. Now that he was no longer a member of the council, it only grew worse. Now he was running from them! However this may still work out for them. Esseles would hopefully become a sanctuary for them and protect them for a little while. Zade was forced make a drastic decision though. If the council stepped foot on Esseles it was an attack on them and it reached the point where even a Jedi must counter deadly force with deadly force. If he needed to, Zade was willing to kill a council member no matter how much the thought pained him...


	13. Chapter 14: Unleashed

Sorry for the long gap between posts. Please read and review and tell me what you think of the story. I'd enjoy your feedback : )

Chapter 14: Unleashed

Hyarsythe, fifth floor. It was the first class for the neophytes since the Arena Day. We were told today was going to be special but were heard nothing more than that about class. I also heard rumors of a Sith General that was sitting on other classes. I'm not sure if they were true or not but I wonder what this General would be doing here? Maybe scouting top recruits or something but I would have thought that Phyress would be the one to make choices like that. None of this should have mattered to a neophyte like myself but I could feel that something was wrong and it revolved around that rumor.

I stood in a line of my fellow neophytes in another cell like room on the arena floor of Hyarsythe, waiting for Ollose to show up. For now, I would have to put those rumors behind me. I had much more that concerned me. Mun Orlen mainly. I still had gotten no response from her and I couldn't help myself from thinking that maybe Ollose was late today because she ratted me out. Maybe she did, and the Sith were talking about what to do with me... I shook my head trying to rid those thoughts from my mind. Vayne elbowed me gently in my side to get my attention, "Are you still sick?"

We were surrounded by Shirtless and other Sith neophytes so I didn't want to mention anything about last night. I just shot Vayne a look as if to say, "We'll talk later." I _was_ feeling much better this morning though. I wasn't sure what happened to me yesterday, whether it was a nightmare or another cursed vision, but I decided to just put it behind me and forget about it. If it happened again anytime soon I'd have to be more concerned.

Finally the door behind us opened and Ollose came strutting through. He walked in front of the line of neophytes and held a duffel bag in front of us. A large smile grew across his face, "Today-"

He was interrupted when the door behind us opened again. I turned back to see who it was. This time a human female with short orange hair walked through. She had her arms crossed across her chest and a wide, toothy smile plastered on her face, "Don't mind me. I'm just here to witness this moment in person."

I turned back to Ollose who no longer had a smile on his face. Instead he glared at the women as he reached into the duffel bag. He quickly turned his attention back at us, "Today, for a few of you, we take the next step forward in your training. Today you shall receive your first, official, Sith lightsaber."

He pulled his hand out of the bag and showed us a simple lightsaber handle. There was nothing special about it. It was just a cylindrical piece of metal. There was no design, effort, or even much thought put into it. I was disappointed. Very disappointed. I had personally constructed all of my past lightsabers. Even if my last saber wasn't much to look at I had at least constructed it fairly well. Now I find out we are just handed a stock lightsaber? Weak...

Ollose tossed me the saber he once held in his hand, "Neophyte Nemea, you have taken it upon yourself to learn as many variants of all forms as you can. At first, I took you as fool. Now you have shown me that you have the much needed potential to prove me wrong."

Even though he was a Sith Master I took his words as complement... but I took this lackluster lightsaber as an insult. As an even bigger insult, he handed the next lightsaber to Shirtless! Who decided to give this moron a deadly weapon?! By the look on Vedalt'e's face, I doubt it was _his_ choice. After all Shirtless did sabotage the duel at Arena Day. A duel Ollose had great interest in.

Fortunately he gave his only remaining lightsaber to Vayne. After giving Shirtless a weapon, we would need every defense against him. I was sure that Shirtless wasn't above using his lightsaber outside of training for his own gain. Apparently, he would be rewarded if he did. What a tool this kid was. The Sith have such troublesome philosophies.

Shirtless was first to ignite his saber. With a hiss and a hum the crimson blade was ignited. Shirtless laughed as he waved it around in front of him. The other students watched on with jealousy and craving for a saber of their own. He continued to wave it around, laughing to himself as he rubbed it, figuratively, in the other student's faces. Vanye and I looked at each other and grinned. Simultaneously we ignited the both of our crimson sabers. The smile and laughter left his face as he realized he was outnumbered, 2-1. He may have even known that we were far superior with a saber than he was.

He remained silent until he must have remembered that in this class he was outnumbered but outside, he still had his group of thugs. Who knows how many of them received a Sith saber too. Dang it... Oh well. For the moment at least we had the upper hand. Plus two of us with a lightsaber equals like eight of them with a lightsaber. At least that's what I'm hoping. I didn't want to underestimate them.

Vedalt'e looked over to the woman and started her harshly in the eyes. Though he was looking at her, he spoke to us, "The three of you that received your lightsabers are dismissed for now. You'll be beginning new teachings later this afternoon. The rest of you..." Ollose turned back to the line of students, "The rest of you will be leaving Hyarsythe. You'll be reporting to the front lines of battle under General De'Kyte's command."

Shocked. That was the only thing that could describe my, and every other neophyte's reaction. Those students who were without a saber looked, dazed and helpless. These cheep and lousy sabers just became much more attractive in my eyes. They weren't just a weapon, they were a pass to remain at Hyarsythe. I'm not sure how great of a pass that really is but it was better than the alternative. Sending those students to the front lines was only a notch better than a death sentence. The Sith are well known for disregarding tactics toward there own soldiers. If they wanted to take out the enemy they weren't above sending in troops to draw the enemy out of hiding and then bombing both sides. That would most likely be the fates of these students and they knew it.

The woman, I assume General De'Kyte, clapped her hands together to gain everyone's attention, "Congratulations to you three on meeting the challenge. The rest of you haven't been showing the kind of progress that we hoped for. Don't be upset because you'll still have the privilege of serving the Sith in combat. So those of you who didn't make the cut can fallow me. You'll take the train back to the surface."

Vanye and I exchanged nervous glances. This chick was trouble. I didn't need another complication thrown into this affair. My guess was that the Masters at Hyarsythe didn't need it either. Maybe they could... _deal_ with her and hopefully I wouldn't. With my history though, I'm sure it wouldn't work out that way. The Jedi used to tell me that everything happened for a reason and that the Force was behind everything. Well, that reason had better show up soon and it better be in my favor!

I let out a tired and exhausted sigh as I whispered to Vayne, "We'd better keep an eye out for that one."

He silently nodded his head to me in agreement. The she-devil left the room and shouted for the other students to fallow her. Those poor souls had no idea what they were headed into. I've seen first hand the Sith in battle. Back when the Jedi and I faced Darth Vultous, I even struck a few front line soldiers like them down and even a few times after that. I always thought of them as cruel and mindless killers, which they were. However, I never comprehended how some of them were manipulated and forced into their madness. It made me feel sympathetic to them. I never thought I'd think that way but I do.

After all was said and done, only four of us remained in the room. Ollose, Shirtless, Vayne, and myself. Vayne and I were calm on the outside. On the inside we were sort of shaken by the events that just took place. I doubt Shirtless cared about his fellow classmates though. Even though some of those students were in his gang, he really didn't care. He was involved only in himself.

Ollose was steaming mad. No doubt that things were way out of his control. He paced back and forth for awhile before he even acknowledged us again, "Alright. I'm sure you three are confused about what just happened. I don't blame you. I'm not so sure myself. All I demand from you is to continue with your training. The best thing you can do to help is grow stronger. Your advanced training begins this afternoon after you get something to eat. Report back to this floor after lunch. You are dismissed."

-----------------------------------------------------

Vayne and I sat at a table inside the Hyarsythe cafeteria. To our displeasure we found out that she-devil of a general had gotten rid of all good food that the Sith once served and now replaced it with basic and tasteless food. Some food differed in ingredients for different species of students but it was all tasteless. Gone were the warm and energizing meals, gone were the yabil snacks, gone was the only part of Hyarsythe that I liked! Stupid lady...

I stared down at my bowl of white, thick, liquid that they called a stew. I hesitantly took a spoon of the goop into my mouth and tasted it. Snot, it was snot. At least with it's texture and taste it seemed like snot. I decided the best way to attack this food, I use the word attack because it may have been alive, was by not letting it sit in my mouth long enough for me to taste. So I just grabbed the bowl in my hands, brought the bowl up to my lips, and downed it all as fast as I could. After I finished it I slammed the bowl down on the table. Vayne just looked at me with disgust, "How could you do that?"

I didn't say anything at first. I just placed my hand on my chest and tried not to bring the stew back up, "Ehh... urp... Just get it done with..."

Vayne curled his upper lip in disgust as he fallowed my lead and took the bowl up to his lips and downed it all. I had to look away because watching it was making me even sicker. I turned my head away from Vayne so I wouldn't become ill but instead I saw a different sickening sight. Shirtless and his gang, now a much smaller gang, was walking over to our table. I slumped back into my chair as I pointed the four remaining goons out to Vayne. He responded with an aggravated crack of his spoon across the table top. Shirtless was laughing as he reached our table, "Well don't you two make a lovely couple?"

I laughed as I pointed to their sabers clipped to their belts, "No wonder why these lightsabers are so cheep and plain. They handed them out like candy to a child."

"Any weapon in my hands is perfect because I make it perfect." He countered.

I acted intimidated, "Oh, aren't you a big boy now?"

"We're men." Another of his gang shot back at me.

I looked Shirtless in the eyes with a dark smile on my face, "If you think this substitute lightsaber is a genuine weapon, you've never held a real one before,_ junior_."

The four of them were taken aback for a moment. Shirtless raised his chin in the air, "What do you know anyways?"

I just chuckled and played ignorant, "Oh..._ nothing_. Nothing at all."

The short-tempered Sith wannabe then slammed his hands down onto out table, "Someday, I'll have your head as a trophy."

"Not a very attractive trophy." A female's voice said behind them.

I looked past the gang and saw neophyte Mun Orlen standing behind them. I sarcastically scoffed at her and smiled, "Humph! I think my head would make a great trophy. Maybe a nice little center piece, maybe over a well lit fireplace. With a jaw line like mine the possibilities are endless really."

She placed her hands on her hips and laughed, "Or maybe your skull could serve as a hound's feeding dish."

"Very dark... and ouch." I said with a frown.

"What are you doing here?!" Shirtless demanded from her.

She shot him a cold look, "Aren't you that loser that interfered in my duel?"

"So what of it?!" He shot back at her.

She raised her eyebrows and snapped her head back, "Well aren't you a vocal little fellow?"

"_Little,_ being the keyword." Vayne joked.

I raised my hands in the air to calm everyone, "Okay, alright. Everyone just calm down. No need to make short jokes. Really. It's so lazy, Vayne. Instead we could make fun of them for their sad attempts at acting the role of, 'Intimidating Sith Figure #1'. Or we could make jokes about why a group of nearly adult men don't like wearing shirts. Or best yet we could make fun of the fact that the mouthy one gets a whoopin every time he opens his mouth to any and every one with a spare limb available to beat the living crap out him."

His face started turning red, "I remember beating you at Arena Day."

"Hey!" Orlen shouted, "_I_ beat him... sort of. You're just some kid that ran interference."

Shirtless and his group stood there for awhile. I wasn't sure if they were trying to think of some clever come back or some thought of any sort, but before any of them could speak, a loud roar echoed through out the cafeteria. I turned around in my chair and saw that same wookie student from a few days ago. As it stood in line for food, it raised his large, meaty paws into the air. It howled something in wookie language at the serving droid. The droid tried to calm the student down, "I'm sorry but this was the only type of food we are allowed in stock now!"

The wookie wasn't calmed by the droid's words at all. It reached over the serving station and slammed it's large paws down onto the droid. The droid yelped as it was lifted into the air and flung clear across the room. The droid flew right over the top of our heads before it slammed into the wall on the opposite side of the room. That droid was nothing but scrap metal by the time it hit the floor. In a rage the wookie started swinging it's arms around wildly. Students around it tried to calm it down. Everyone in the cafeteria had turned their attention to the wookie. Even Shirtless and his gang ran toward the scene where students surrounded the wild wookie. With everyone's attention toward the wookie, I quickly leapt from my chair and ran to the other side of the room. I even hurdled over an empty table to reach to the other side of the room faster.

When I got to the other side of the room I spun around and looked to see if anyone was watching me. There wasn't even anyone that remained on this side of the room. Everyone flocked to the action across from here. I quickly bent down where the droid was laying in scraps. It had a humanoid build with silver and white paint over the very thin plating. I knew it to be an older model and knew where all the core parts were. I quickly took out my lightsaber and ignited the red blade. With one nice and a quick swoosh, I cut off a small lock near it's chest and switched my saber off. I then clipped the lightsaber back to my side. The lock kept the droid's chest plate closed and with it gone I was able to open it with ease.

Inside was a bunch of chips, wires, and gears. The usual computer stuff. There was one large chip panel near the back and that's what I was looking for. I removed any wires attached to it and yanked it from the droid's central chassis. This was the droid's A.I. and basically, it's brain. I slid the chip into my short's pocket. As an added touch to the crushed droid, I punched the chest plate with my fist to add a dent. So now it at least looked like the slam into the wall had caused enough damage to pop the chest plate open. It was barley noticeable that the latch had but sliced off with a lightsaber.

When I was finished I stood up and looked back to the massive group of students. The event came to an abrupt end when a senior student removed her lightsaber and ignited it. The wookie never stood a chance as it was struck down. I felt terrible. Not just because a lose of life, but I noticed her lightsaber was much better than mine... Wait. What was I thinking? A wookie lost it's life and I was thinking about lightsabers? Though I had to admit, it probably had to be done. If it could go into a rage over food, who knows what would have happened if something worse happened.

Without any distraction I quickly ran back to my table and sat down as if I had never left. I just watched on as students walked back to their tables, whispering amongst themselves. I noticed that Shirtless and his gang decided not to finish our conversation. Instead they got into the lift and left the cafeteria. Vayne and Orlen were talking to each other as they walked back to the table. Vayne shook his head as he sat back down at the table, "That was wild. Why lose your life over such a stupid reason?"

Orlen shrugged her shoulders as she grabbed a chair from another table and joined our table, "Well... have you tried this stuff?"

Vayne and I both looked down at our empty bowls in shame. We _had_ tried it, and we ate it _all_. She laughed to herself, "That's disgusting, guys."

"You seem in a pleasant mood." I told her, "Dose that mean you've made up you're mind?"

She nodded, "Yeah. I guess I accept. I wasn't really planning to until they shipped off all those other students to the front lines. They crossed a line with me."

Hey, hey! Maybe _this _was the reason behind the, "everything happens for a reason.", theory. Sure this new general lady was another threat and a huge danger but hopefully by gaining another ally, it would work out in my favor. Maybe I was just lying to myself that I still had the upper hand. Maybe this was all good........Yikes, I was way over my head. I was in over my head the moment I stole a friggin Sith ship!

"So now what?" She asked.

"Not here, obviously." I said, "We'll gather at the archive room after class today. Nobody ever goes there. We'll discuss things there."

"Got it." She said.

"You know if we're going to class with real lightsabers now. We should keep an eye on those four at all times." Vayne suggested.

"Good point." I told him.

"Is that all for now?" She asked.

"Yes. For now." I said.

"Good." She said as she stood up from the table and walked away.

Vayne watched her as she walked away, "She's pretty cute... for a human."

"She could kick your teeth down your throat so I'd watch what you say around her._ I would be so upset if you couldn't talk anymore_." I said with a grin and a snicker.

"Whatever." He said as he slumped back into his chair with embarrassment written all over his face.

"Jokes aside, we shouldn't speak another thing here. We'll talk later alright?" I asked.

"Alright." He agreed.

With that he got up and walked away. I remained at my seat. I noticed a senior student heaving the busted droid over his shoulder. He took the droid back into the kitchen where I assume he chucked it into a large trash compactor. Good. Evidence destroyed. I wasn't sure what I wanted to use the A.I. chip for just yet. Maybe nothing. I knew though it could had it's uses and may be useful in the future.

I checked the chrono on the cafeteria wall and saw what time it was. Class wasn't far away and I needed to hide the A.I. chip. I decided to head to my room and stick the chip in my desk before I headed to class. A part of me was actually looking forward to class today. Stun sticks were getting old and real lightsabers may be just what I need to kick my training into gear.

-------------------------------------------

I could already tell this new class wasn't going to be like the last one and it hadn't even began yet. The first difference was the size of the class. There were about twenty students in class as apposed to just a small line of students like the last one. The other reason being the room we were in. It wasn't just a small cell shaped room. This one was square in shape and was about the same size of the central arena on this floor. That is if the central arena didn't have the bleachers of seats and was just a flat surface. This room's floor wasn't made of rock though. It was just a smooth black floor with yellow circles painted in rows across the floor. The circles had about a five meter diameter. The circles covered most of the floor except for a large square in the center of the room where it was just black without the circles.

The twenty or so students stood in a random cluster all facing the same wall. The wall where Ollose Vedalt'e and General De'Kyte stood. Ollose had an impatient look on his face while she stood there with an arrogant and proud pose. All of the Sith bothered me but she really stood above them all. I barley even knew a thing about her but she really annoyed me for some reason. At least I was surrounded with allies because Vayne stood to my left and Mun Olren to my right. Well, at least I hoped they were allies. I knew that they could still stab me in the back at any moment. If fact, I'd have to keep an eye out for them more than anyone else since I'd have my back exposed to them more than any other Sith.

Ollose took a step forward and opened his mouth, ready to speak when De'Kyte spoke first, "Welcome students. You were once called neophytes but no more. You are now Sith Acolytes and will be addressed as so."

Vedalt'e grumbled as he rubbed his fleshy chin in frustration, "Yes, yes. Congratulations to all! Take word from someone_ who actually_ knows what it means to be an Acolyte, things will get much more difficult and any tolerance is long gone."

Oh great! Fabulous! If the past was the Sith with tolerance I was afraid to see them without it. Ollose continued, without any interruption, by pointing to the circles around the room, "See these? These will be were you'll train from now on. When I'm teaching basic maneuvers with the lightsabers, you'll stand there in the center of those circles with your lightsabers. You'll watch and copy that maneuver within the circle. For everyone's safety, do not move from the circle! That's only a small part of this class though." Ollose took a deep breath and sighed, "From now on, every now and then you'll be facing off against each other in a duel as if it were Arena Day."

More sudden and surprising news. Why did I have a feeling that the general was behind this new rule change? Another reason to dislike her. Speaking of the she-devil, she decided it was her turn to speak, "Now as a coronation to these news rules, would anybody like to issue the first challenge?"

Dammit... I already knew what was coming even before Shirtless raised his hand into the air and shouted, "Me! I'll take Nemea's head!"

I was done with this kid! I gave him enough chances to back off but he didn't take the hint. I nodded my head in agreement to Ollose, "Very well. I accept."

Vayne sort of shifted in position, "You sure about this?"

Orlen grunted, "If you can't beat this peon then consider the deal off."

"If I can't beat him I'll be dead." I pointed out with a sad little grin.

I didn't discuss it any further. I just took a step forward from the crowd, as did Shirtless. Ollose walked over to us and pointed to the plain black square on the floor, "This will be your battle ground. Try to to leave the square but don't worry too much if you do. The rules are simple. You win by..." He said with disdain in his voice, "a deathblow. Lightsaber and force abilities are allowed and encouraged." Now with a smile aimed at Shirtless he mentioned, "Any interference is _not_ allowed. If anyone interferes I'll personally kill them! Got it?"

"Sounds fine to me." I said with a dark grin.

Shirtless nodded his head in agreement, "Anything is allowed besides interference? Any tactic? Any move?"

"It's a fight for your life. Do what you must. As long as you do it alone." Ollose told him.

"In that case..." He said as he quickly removed his lightsaber, ignited it and swung for my head. It was predictable and I was ready. I ducked down low and swiped my leg across the back of his legs, dropping him back first onto the ground. I removed my own saber from my side and ignited it. In a desperate attempt to strike me, he swept his saber toward my legs while he was still on the ground. Before he could land the blow, I leapt into the air and right over his strike. As I landed I brought the tip of my blade down right through his chest. He gurgled and tried to cry out in pain but he was unable. I quickly ended the match almost before it began with a quick slash that detached his head from his body.

In a sick way I was glad I didn't decapitate him right away. I was glad that I didn't kill him right away so his final thoughts were that he lost the duel. As much trouble as he caused me I was glad to be rid of him... but I didn't feel right. Maybe it was the fact that I had just killed someone and was glad about it. I switched my weapon off and summoned Shirtless's lightsaber to my free hand. I switched it off and held it out to show Ollose, "Mind if I keep this?"

With a broad smile on his face he shook his head, "Not at all. Spoils of war."

I clipped both of the sabers to the right side of my belt and walked back to the crowd of students as if nothing much had happened. Vayne and Orlen both a gave me a congratulatory nod of the head as I stood with them again. I didn't respond to them. I was too upset with myself. I was upset that I wasn't upset. I honestly didn't care that I killed him. I actually felt better now that he was dead and that line of thinking made me sick. This wasn't the first time I took a life but this was the first time where I didn't feel at least a little sorry about it.

I didn't even want to think that the Sithrimi had anything to do with it. I didn't want to put that thought in my mind. It was just like my nightmare. I didn't want to admit that it may have been a vision of the future. I didn't want to admit that maybe I didn't care about killing anymore. As I stood there letting my mind wander, my body jerked violently in frustration over the thoughts that my mind was thinking. Vayne leaned over and whispered to me, "Are you alright? You've been acting weird lately."

"I'm fine." I said through clenched teeth. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared forward with my eyes. I convinced my mind to concentrate on the class.

Ollose bent over and snarled at the corpse laying on the ground, "There is no way I'm continuing with this stinking pile of flesh here."

De'Kyte walked over and patted him on the back, "I'm sorry Vedalt'e. I guess it was a mistake having a duel before the class began. My mistake."

I could tell the he wanted to remove his own saber and add her corpse onto the pile but instead he just bit down on his lower lip until he drew blood. He managed to force the words, "Don't worry about it. We can just continue class tomorrow."

She laughed, "I don't think so. You're going to let a dead body distract you? If it was the battlefield there would be lifeless shells littering the grounds!"

He clenched his fists and his body actually started to shake until he removed his lightsaber, ignited it and plunged the saber down into the already lifeless corpse. He continued then continued to attack the dead body over and over again. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to see it. I could still hear it though. I turned my head and opened my eyes only to see Orlen with her eyes closed too. I then looked over to my left and saw Vayne staring at the ground. The other students watched on though. Some even had gotten some sort of sick look of contempt of their faces. This actually made me feel better in a way. I knew that I made the right choice by trying to help Vayne and Orlen. I also realized that I wasn't going to try and offer my help to anyone else because they were all just as sick as next one.

Finally, Ollose finished his enraged attack and switch his blade off. He was puffing and panting when he looked up toward De'Kyte, "There! Is that gruesome enough for you? Do want me to continue on in blood? Better yet would you like to line the walls with skeletons and dead animal pelts? Hallowed bones and rotting flesh? Is that enough of a battlefield for you?!"

She stared down at him with disgust and cold malice in her eyes. She said only one word, "Interesting."

She then turned her back to him and began walking toward the room's exit. Ollose looked back to us with madness in his body, "Class is over! Get out of here!"

He then stomped his feat as he fallowed her toward the exit. I heard some echoed shouts from Ollose aimed at her as they exited but I wasn't sure what he said. I know they wern't very friendly though. I just looked over to Vayne and then to Orlen, "You know where to find me."

Without waiting for a response I was the first student to walk from that room. I felt like my body was just some core and inside was only a dark void where my heart and soul were supposed to be. I couldn't even trust my own mind anymore. Every thing I thought I always wondered if the Sithrimi was behind it. Maybe it was altering my mind. Maybe it forced that nightmare or vision in my mind. Those deep trances I go into, maybe it's the Sithrimi... Maybe it wasn't the Sithrimi... There was no way it could have been the Sithrimi. It was a dark and evil presence but it didn't have a mind of it own.

Then a thought hit me, what if someone could use the Sithrimi to alter another's mind. Maybe they could invade one's mind and even play around with it like a child's toy. I stopped in my steps and stood there with a faint smile as my mind started to unravel itself and started to work for me once again. My mind was like a feral beast chained to the ground and it was finally unleashed as thought after thought ran through my brain. I smiled and actually laughed to myself as I thought everything out. Every step and every blueprint! By the Force, I knew the plan! I actually figured it out! I knewhow to destroy Hyarsythe...


	14. Chapter 15: Unity

Chapter 15: Unity

Second floor of Hyarsythe. There were many different types of classrooms on the second floor including the cave like training room where Bast would usually teach us about the dark side of the force. At least it used to. Since General De'Kyte showed up and changed the rules it seems that this floor had been completely abandoned. Bast's class was done away with. Battle tactics and piloting training was gone as well. The archives and library was no longer being used either. It seemed that Vedalt'e's class was the only training that remained and I had a feeling that was only because it gave De'Kyte a chance for us to battle each other.

After seeing how empty and deserted the second floor was, it was clear to me now what De'Kyte was doing here. She was cleaning Hyarsythe of the weak. I was however unaware of how far she was going to take this. Was it going to be the last man or women standing? Maybe she was just trying to find out who the top ten students were? I had no idea. But I knew this monumental shift in power was just what I needed to set my new plan into motion.

Class had ended about an hour ago and I was first to leave after I took the life from Acolyte Odasell... a.k.a Shirtless. It bothered me at first that I had no regrets about killing him, maybe even enjoying it, but I no longer cared. For the moment I would have to close my heart and shut out my conscience because I had bigger things to think about.

The archive room wasn't very technologically advanced. Most of the room's decor was made up of wooden racks and shelves that held primitive scrolls, books, and other older documents. I actually liked that whole ancient feel though. It felt classic and historical. There were also metal tables placed in between the rows of racks and shelves for students to sit at.

Even before De'Kyte arrived, the archive room was pretty much abandoned except for a droid that would take care of the scrolls and documents. Now with her arrival, she had even got rid of that droid. I wasn't upset about it though because that just meant this room was private in a way. A perfect place to meet up with Vayne and Orlen. At least the room still had lighting.

I sat down at the biggest table in the center of the room. I had stacks of books and piles sprawled out all around the table. I had picked these particular documents when I first scouted this room out. They varied from Jedi teachings to Sith philosophies. Anything relating to the Force it seemed like much of what I wanted to find was well within these documents. Perhaps not everything, but it was a good collection. With such a broad collection of data and information, it surprises me that the archive room was never encouraged as much as it was by the Sith Masters. Maybe not so much Ollose and Lokindr, but I would think at least Bast would encourage the reading of these ancient texts.

As much as I knew these texts could help with learning new variates of the Force, I also knew that I needed to practice these variates, not just read about them, before I could master them. That was exactly what I was doing. While I was still waiting for Orlen and Vayne to arrive I decided to practice the technique that I had been working on over the past number of days. With my eyes shut, my ears closed off to the world around me, and without the use of my hands, I was levitating two, lightsaber handles above the table top. One was the saber given to me by Ollose and the other was the one given to Shirtless. My "spoils of war" as Ollose put it.

It was a struggle to levitate two weapons at once with any added help from my hands. A struggle it was, but I was able to keep them airborne for a well amount of time. This technique of mine was still shaky and highly unstable even though the learning curve shouldn't have been this difficult.

Perhaps it wasn't the task of levitating two sabers at once that was bothering me. I've learned and performed much harder tasks even back as a youngling. The thing that was bothering me... was me, and it was effecting my concentration. I was paranoid about the Sithrimi. I was wary of my enemies who seem to be increasing in number by the day. I was still very cautious of my new allies who I couldn't yet trust. I was nervous about my new plan and still I wondered if this plan was as perfect as it needed to be.

I was sure that once I counseled my plan to Vayne and Orlen a hefty weight would be removed from my shoulders. We still had to decide what role everyone is going to play and how we were going to finally execute this plan. Though the plan was my idea and I seemed to be the ringleader of the group. I wanted to get their input since their lives are counting on a solid plan just as much as mine.

My mind kept wandering and I didn't even realize when Mun Orlen entered the room and took a seat across from me. I was unaware of her presence until she first spoke, "So, what is it you're doing?"

I opened my eyes and brought myself back into my surroundings. I dropped my concentration and allowed the lightsabers to drop onto the table. I welcomed her with a bow of the head, "I'm attempting to teach myself something new."

"Are you going to teach it to me when you're done?" She asked with a smile.

"If we're still alive by then, yes." I responded with a worried and pathetic smile.

"Well... alright then." She agreed.

"What took you so long?" I asked her.

"Oh, thats right you left early." She remembered to herself.

"Why, did something happen after I left?" I had a bad feeling about the answer.

She raised an eyebrow and sighed, "I'd say. After you left the _mighty General_ returned and told us all that classes are canceled, indefinitely."

"All of them?" I repeated.

"Well, yeah. Though, Vedalt'e's class was the only one left. Now even that one is gone." She shook her head is dismay.

"Well then whats happening with the students?" I asked her.

"We're continuing on with our duels just like today when... well... you defeated that mouthy kid." She told me with a somber tone.

"That all but confirms what she's up to." I told her.

"So," She grimaced as she understood, "you think that she plans on weeding out the weak?"

"I don't see why else she'd do this. She doesn't care about the students education or progression through the Force. The only thing she cares about is battle. I think all she cares about is adding soldiers into the Sith ranks as quickly as possible." I suggested.

Soon after I said that, the room's doors slid open and Vayne came jogging in, "Hey Ceddes. You'll never guess what you mis-"

"I already told him." Orlen interrupted.

Vayne dropped his arms to his side and hobbled over to the table, "How did _you_ get here so fast?"

She chuckled to herself but said nothing. I signaled to a chair at the table and offered Vayne a seat, "Have a seat."

He pulled a chair out from the table and flopped down into his seat, "Don't you guys think this is weird? Like maybe General De'Kyte cares more about having us battle each other. It's almost like she wants to turn us into killing machines."

"Oh, you better believe that every Sith Master and officer wants to turn us into killing machines." I told him, "She's just more blatant about it."

Orlen shook her hand as if she was shooing away an invisable bug, "I'm sick of talking about that Sith lapdog of a general. She annoys me."

Vayne laughed, "Ouch. Harsh words, Mun Orlen."

"Don't call me that." She grumbled, "I hate that name. Call me by my first name, Lwyn."

"Whats wrong with the name, Mun Orlen?" Vayne asked her.

She stared back at him, "Because... I-don't-like-it."

I laughed and raised my hands to them, "Alright, alright. Vayne, _Lwyn_, settle down."

She sighed and apologized to Vayne, "Sorry. I just don't care to be called by my family name is all."

"So what are all these books and papers for?" Vayne asked, thankfully changing the subject.

"Learning aids... or guidelines I guess is more appropriate." I told him.

Lwyn and Vayne both picked up the nearest scroll, unraveled them, and skimmed them over. Lwyn raised a curious eyebrow, "This is a scroll of Jedi teachings. Why would the Sith have this?"

"Because the Sith are far from fools." I said before correcting myself, "Or at least, Sith away from Hyarsythe are not fools. I'm still unsure about this group here. Anyways, the Sith study the Jedi powers and teachings so they can better know their enemy. The Sith learn the Jedi's weaknesses in battle, and learn what to cerebrally exploit, to turn a Jedi to the Dark Side."

Vayne was slightly impressed, "A wise tactic."

Lwyn snickered as she ran a finger across the scroll then showed her dust covered finger to us, "A wise tactic indeed. That must be why this thing is covered in a years worth of dust. The Sith here don't want to get anywhere near it."

"Gathering dust down here can't be easy." I added.

"For a group that prides them self on exploiting every weakness and looking at every option, they sure over look allot of things." Lwyn point out.

"The Masters here at Hyarsythe are out of touch with the other Sith." I said, "Though, to be stuck down here, fathoms under the Apsus waves, for as long as they have, I can't say as I blame them. They have forgotten their trainings and their duties. They are stuck serving their own selfish purposes."

"You are referring to their little apprentice game?" Vayne asked.

"Yes." I said.

"I haven't heard much about that lately now that De'Kyte has arrived. They are more worried about her than each other." Lwyn mentioned.

"Yes," Now was the perfect time to begin discussion of my plans, "The only thing that could get Lokindr, Ollose, and Bast to work together was someone with more power than them."

Lwyn crossed her arms arms and grinned, "I detect a tone of mischief in your voice,_ Ceddes_."

"Maybe." I teased.

"So you thought of something then?" Vayne asked with a gleam of hope in his unblinking eyes.

I sighed sharply and winced, "Well, sort of. I thought I had a good idea but with this new development and classes being canceled, I'm going to have to rework the kinks in the chain."

"...Are you at least going to tell us what you know so far?" She asked with hesitance.

"Well... I'll go over the basics for now because... well, so far thats all I know." I explained to them.

"Well, we can fill in the gaps together." Vayne told me.

I was still unsure of how much I wanted to divulge to them. For now I would just tell them the first part of the plot. I held my hand up to them and showed them four of my fingers, "Okay, so there are four super powers within Hyarsythe. Lokindr, Ollose, Bast, and De'Kyte are the strongest forces here."

Lwyn smiled and raised up her own hand but showing all five fingers, or technically four fingers and a thumb, "Five super powers with us."

"Okay, four_ publicly known_ super powers." I corrected before grouping three of my fingers together, leaving my index finger by itself, "Only now because of De'Kyte, the other three are undoubtedly going to faction together to remove her from Hyarsythe. If we want to destroy Hyarsythe as a whole, we should side with someone and pick off the others before turning on the one that we sided with."

"Good. Makes sense." Lwyn agreed with the plan so far.

"Which do we side with?" Vayne asked.

I put my hand down because the visual aid wasn't needed any longer, "Who do you think has more power?"

"De'Kyte." Vayne answered quickly.

"At first glance, yes... but no. She _holds_ the most power but doesn't _have_ the most power." I told him.

"Whats the difference?" Vayne asked.

"I think I get what you're saying." Lwyn caught on, "De'Kyte has power... but not her own? She is a non-Force user in a Force user world. She must be here by order of someone else and not her own."

"So she has the power of someone else?" Vayne tried to catch on.

"Basically, yes." I told him, "Lokindr for instance is here because she's been named headmaster of Hyarsythe. She has been given her duty due to her strength and connection to the Force. De'Kyte is here because someone else in unhappy with Hysrsythe and is using her as their 'measure of discipline'. She may not even be giving the final orders. Like canceling classes for instance. Though as quick and harsh as these rule changes come, I'd still imagine that she is behind them. So she is not without power. Far from it actually, but she isn't near the level of a Sith Master."

"Then your plan would be to...?" Lwyn questioned.

"Sever that tie between De'Kyte and whoever calls the shots. Whoever protects her. We get rid of her first of all then we pick the others off one by one." I explained.

Lwyn nodded her head, "I like it so far."

Vayne wasn't' as sure, "How are we going to do that?"

"Uhh... Thats where is gets complicated.... because I haven't figured that part out." I was half way lying. I had an idea on what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it but I didn't want to tell them just quite yet. There was still a trust issue.

Vayne rapped his knuckles against the table, "So thats all you got so far?"

"For now. I was planning on doing something through class to get close to De'Kyte and gain her trust but thats out the window now." I sighed.

"Well you could still gain her trust through these duels to the death that she's imposed on us." She said bleakly.

"What happens if we have to face each other?" Vayne brought up.

"That would be unfortunate." Lwyn said even more bleakly.

"Well... if we challenged others we wouldn't have to worry about facing each other." Vayne suggested.

"No." I said firmly, "If we did that we'd have to kill someone almost everyday. Today was bad enough."

"Thats right... how are you... after ya' know..." Vayne tried to dance around the words but I got what he meant.

"Not great but not bad... I have taken life before." I said without much emotion.

Lwyn stared down at the scrolls at the table, "Erm... I have too."

Lwyn and I both had our arms folded across our chest and made no eye contact with any one else. Vayne shook his head, "Wow. I've never... killed anybody before. I mean I've hunted creatures back home but thats the extent of what I've done."

"How did a guy like you end up with the Sith, Vayne?" She asked.

"Yeah, lets hear your whole story, Vayne." I added. I just wanted to change the topic.

"Me? Well my story is not very exciting." He said with some embarrassment.

Lwyn forced a slight smile, "Well... maybe we need a little 'boring' right about now. Tells us something about yourself. It'll be good for the team unity."

"Alright." He started, "My earliest memory... if you want me to go that far back?"

"Sure why not?" I told him.

"Okay then," He began, "My earliest memory was standing in my family's private farm on Glee Anselm. It was a large, exotic pond/bog with rows of mossy, ivy pillars that would grow from the bottom of the pond. We farmed rare fish called Idikus that would live in the leaves of those pillars and would feed off water-spiders that glided across of the water. The Idikus were a delicacy on richer planets. We also farmed an edible water weed that was just a cheap food item native to the lands I lived in."

He was rambling but I must admit I was interested in his story. So far he seemed like he lived an average life. Something I knew nothing about. The way an average farmer might find stories of the battlefield intriguing, I found the story of a normal farm life intriguing. Vayne continued on, "Anyways, as I stood in those waters I remember hearing a loud roaring sound in the sky. It was a freighter ship. Just a simple, blocky freighter flying through the sky... _but it was flying_. I'd never seen anything like it before, or at least I don't remember seeing anything like it. I wanted one of those things."

"I asked my father about it later on and he said that ship is what took shipments like our Idikus to other planets. I barley even knew about other planets so it just added to my curiosity. Now my family either grew up to be one of two things, farmers or warriors. My father knew I had special talents though nobody guessed it was the Force. Not that they would have cared. He wanted me to fallow in his footsteps and become a warrior."

"The more the years went by and the more I wanted to become a pilot, the further distant I grew from my family. Whether it was working at home or even my schooling, I always thought of doing more. Whether that be flying a ship or just leaving that planet all together." He shook his head and sighed, "Eventually the craving for a different world, a different life, led me to the Sith where I was lead into their snare. It's not a great story. I'm sure it's not better that your stories..."

"Better?" Lwyn scoffed, "Depends on what you mean by the word, _better_."

"More interesting." He told her.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "... I don't want to talk about my past."

"C'mon, Lwyn. What happened to strengthening the team's bond?" Vayne persuaded.

I could tell a part of her wanted to tell us but perhaps it was something that was too painful to bring up. I kindly smiled to her, "You don't have to tell us if you don't wish to."

She didn't responded for a few seconds. Finally, she had a slight smirk on her face, "I will... If you tell us about yourself too."

"Me? Alright." I agreed.

They both seemed caught by surprise. Lwyn raised her ever curious eyebrow, "Really?"

"It's only fair." I said plainly.

She had a grim look on her face as she gave me a nod of the head, "A-alright. Well... I'm Voidian."

"I figured as much." I told her, "The hair and eyes sort of gave it away."

"If you know what we look like, you must know what J'Rekk is like." She said with a slightly shaken voice.

I nodded, "I do."

Vayne raised his hand, "Vayne does not... What's it like?"

She scratched the back of her head, "Well... it's...-"

"A place where the sins of the galaxy flourish." I said abruptly.

"Basically." She admitted with a tone of disgust, "A place of murder, thievery, debauchery, and other unpleasing _entertainment_ thrived. The only place to live on J'Rekk was a massive colony in a giant crater on the moon's surface. It's always night there too. It was always a everyone for themselves mentality which you had to live by just to survive the gangs and murderers. If you so much as looked at someone wrong it could cost you your life."

"Sounds like... here." Vayne commented.

"Yeah..." She said grimly, "My father was a rich man on J'Rekk which meant he was a very feared man and nobody messed with him. It takes allot of bad things to get that far in life on J'Rekk. My mother was a... well, she was worked for him. When my mother gave birth to me, she kept me a secret from my father."

"I'm sorry for asking but... he couldn't tell when she was pregnant?" I asked.

Lwyn rubbed the aggravated temples of her forehead, "It's... complicated but the male producer of my life, or my father in other words, wasn't one to pay attention to any one woman for any period of time. Sometimes not for even a year. Eventually he contacted her again and again over the years. Two years after I was born... I had a little sister. This child, she couldn't keep secret though and shortly after my sister's birth my father murdered my mother and wanted my sister and I dead too. Another women that worked for my father, who was a friend of my mothers took us away from him."

"Yikes." Vayne grimaced, "My story already sounds like nothing in comparison."

"Humph," She snorted out, "Yeah well is gets _better_. When I was a teenager, or just barely a teenager, the women that saved us and was caring for my sister and I ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time... which was all too common. My sister and I were then on our own. We were alone, together, if that makes any sense. We lived the next few years with only each other to trust and care for. That only lasted a few years though. My sister... fell in with a bad crowd..."

She struggled to find her words and I cold feel how much pain was in her heart, "We don't talk anymore... I don't even know if she is still alive... I was alone for quite awhile. It became much more difficult to survive by myself. I had to steal just to eat, I had to cram myself into any small crevice just to escape the rain, I had to carry a dagger with me at all times. Sometimes I even had to use that dagger in self defense. The worst thing I've ever done was on my last day on J'Rekk. Walking through the streets I noticed a man at a market. That man was my father. He was older but he was just as same the stories that I heard. He walked with a profound arrogance and not surprisingly, he didn't know who he was. The lecher that he was he eventually noticed me and started hitting on me right there in the streets."

"Eww!" Vayne exclaimed.

"I snapped. I had killed in defense before but this was different. I took that dagger and I pierced his heart. Before he died I told him the name of my mother." She quickly stated.

"Ah." Vayne responded in immense awkwardness.

"As I mentioned before, he was a man of power and as soon as I killed him I was a wanted criminal." She laughed to herself, "A criminal among criminals really. His guards gave chase and I ran, and ran, and ran until I was eventually captured. They were going to execute me until a one armed women with a crimson lightsaber decapitated everyone of my pursuers. This women was a Sith Master and once worked under Darth Vultous."

I couldn't help but ask, "Did you know her name?"

She shook her head, "I can't remember exactly but I think it was something like Yuelt."

Yuelt Roxxa. I knew her well. Darth Vultous' former apprentice. Or one of them. She was one of the few survivors of the battle on Tisstan. I thought it was her by Lwyn's description because a Jedi Knight cut off her arm during that battle... I was a little sad to hear that she was still alive. That was being off topic though.

Lwyn continued on with her story, "She said I had potential and told me that I should come here, to Hyarsythe. She said I had a unique gift and I seemed to be able to block my presence from the Force. She said she wanted me to be a member of the Sith. Growing up on J'Rekk I didn't know much about the Jedi or the Sith. I accepted just on the fact that I'd be leaving J'Rekk. That brought me here where I quickly learned that the Sith and Hyarsythe was just another form of J'Rekk."

I already had guessed it but this confirmed that Lwyn and Vayne joined the Sith, not because they were craving blood and battle, but they were baited here by false promises and lies about their futures. They were allies, I could feel it and I knew it. It's odd how a simple story can create a bond of trust. I wanted to help and save them. Lwyn shrugged her shoulders and sighed an exhausted sigh, "Well... that's about it. I left out some more disturbing details but I doubt you'd want to hear it anyways."

Vayne cocked his head to the side and clicked his tongue, "Well, I'd say so far Lwyn has by far the better story. Think you can do better, Ceddes?"

With my new found trust in them I said, "Laan."

"What?" Lwyn asked.

"My name is Laan." I told them, "My real one."

"For real?" She asked.

"I was an orphan and the Jedi gave me the name. I guess it means 'destined savior' in an extinct language." I confessed.

"Wow. No pressure to live up to that, eh?" She snickered.

"Nope." I laughed.

"Laan, huh? Well it's better than Ceddes. I still think my name is better." Vayne bragged.

"Really though, say it, 'Lwyn'. It rolls off the tongue." She argued with him.

I didn't care to get into a battle of name vs. name so I abruptly changed the subject, "Anyways! As I mentioned, I was an orphan until the Jedi took me in. I trained and learned as a youngling until a Master accepted me as padawan. Master Tal. He quickly became like a father to me... Well not either of your fathers but... you know... a nice one."

"Humph." Lwyn grunted in a gesture of agreement.

"He was a bit of a rebel amongst the Jedi." I continued, "He constantly disobeyed the council's orders and trained me in more advanced teachings. Teachings the council didn't want me to learn so early. He taught me fast, he taught me carefully, he taught me masterfully, and he taught me things beyond the common Jedi teachings. He was fair in his teachings too. He was never harsh and he was never cruel. He scolded me... he scolded me allot and I usually deserved it."

"What?" Lwyn stated with dry sarcasm, "_You_? _Scolding_? I don't believe it..."

I laughed, "Yeah well I was a hand full... " I took a deep breath and sighed, "I remember when we would leave the temple for assignments. We'd be sent out on missions, sometimes on our own and sometimes grouped with other Jedi. This was where I was most talented. I had little to no trouble handling any Sith or anything else we were met with. As the years went on I became more and more in tuned with the Force. Sometimes I'd get these dreams that seemed like visions. I told Master Tal about it and he seemed hesitant to belive me at first. Visions usually occurred with more advanced Jedi who were trained in visions but it didn't take him long to believe me and eventually he started feeling my visions through the Force. He couldn't see them but he could feel what type they were. If they were warnings or just pleasant tellings he would know about them before I even told him."

"Really? Have you had any visions here on Hyarsythe?" Vayne asked.

The dark vision from a couple of days ago popped in my head. I looked him in the eyes and lied, "No, not yet." I took a deep breath before I started again, "Well... one day I had a vision of... Tisstan."

"Where do I know that name from?" Lwyn asked herself.

"I'm sure you'll remember." I assured her, "The vision I had was of Tisstan's moon. I saw an entire armada of Sith ships and soldiers. They were planning on attacking Tisstan. I told my Master of this and he informed the council. They didn't believe him... they didn't believe me. A dream they called it. I never saw Master Tal angry up until that point. He was clearly viable. He was angry... man, _he was angry_. Other Jedi believed him and I about Tisstan and a group of us headed to Tisstan to meet the Sith in combat. We never told the council of our move."

Lwyn's eyes were wide and her jaw was open, "No way. I remember now... You were behind it all?"

I clenched my jaw and reluctantly nodded my head, "Yes. The Jedi and Sith clashed weapons on that moon and eventually it came down to myself and a group of a few Jedi against Darth Vultous. She struck them all down, including my Master. As the last Jedi fell that Jedi took her arm with them. I was the last one alive and I took her head in a desperate lunge."

"Impossible!" Lwyn exclaimed.

"You killed Vultous?" Vayne asked in dismay.

"I hope you believe my words and don't think of me a liar." I said humbly.

Vayne and Lwyn exchanged glances. Vayne looked away from her and gave me a nod of the head and with a smile he said, "I believe you."

"You?" I asked Lwyn.

She giggled almost evilly, "A Sith Lord slayer, eh? Glad you are on my side then."

Out of gratitude I smiled to them, "Good. It doesn't' end there though. I obviously had allot to explain for. Nothing I said got through to the unyielding council. They even accused me of working with the Sith in an ambush. If I did that, why would I ever return to the council?! They are... well never mind them. I was exiled from the order as a result. I spent the next few years on my own until I joined a group of bounty hunters turned freedom fighters. After that I tried a _normal_ life... there is no normal for me and when I realized that I ended up here with this insane plot to destroy the Sith from within the inside... and now I've dragged you two into it."

"Hmm... What a sad group of misfits." She said with a half smile.

"It is rather pathetic, eh?" I forced a slight chuckled.

The three of us quickly formed a tight bond and perhaps foolishly, I decided to trust them. That may backfire on me later but for now I was treating them as full allies. No secrets anymore and I decided to tell them everything. The plan I told them earlier was only a small fraction of my total concept. The true concept I had designed was more more meticulous. The rest of the day, until it was late at night, I told them everything I had thought of and with their input, the gaps were filled. Every role was assigned and every piece placed into position. Everything needed to be perfect. If even one of us failed their part it could ruin everything. We couldn't falter and trust was the most important part. If they betrayed me, I would die...

________\-**V**-/________

Ollose sat in his dark and cold room. The room wasn't quite as dark as Lokindr's room but it was hard to see the room's corners through the shadows. He sat in a gaudy, gold and silver chair. He leaned his face against a clenched fist that rested on the chair's armrest. He stared through the darkness as a figure clad in a black robe. The robe covered all of their body and a hood hid their face. Ollose had a maddened smile on his face, "Is that so? A plot to destroy Hyarsythe? Well it seems there is allot of that going round lately. The other two don't suspect a thing, eh?"

The hooded head shook it's head. Ollose chortled and slapped the chair's armrest, "Great! If the first phase is to destroy De'Kyte. I'll leave things the way they are for the moment. Perhaps the best thing is to let the three of you handle her, without getting my hands dirty. When it comes to the phase to destroy Lokindr, Bast, and myself I may have to intervene. For now though just continue on with things as they are, my new apprentice. The other two are fools to trust you and they _will_ fall. But for now they are my tools, they are my weapons to do with as I wish. You my apprentice, are dismissed for the moment. Return to me in three days."

The figure bowed to Ollose before leaving the room. Ollose laughed and clapped his hands together, "Tools, tools. They will rid me of my enemies and their blood shall be split after I've used them all up."

With the four powers in Hyarsythe, Ollose just gained a huge trump card. A spy, his new apprentice, from a group of rebelling students had come to him and given him their secrets. With his new apprentice he could add his influence into this group without even revealing himself to them. First De'Kyte, then Bast, and finally Lokindr. With them dead and gone, he would reign as headmaster of Hyarsythe and together with his apprentice, maybe he could even destroy the current Dark Lord and become the new leader of the Sith. Ollose couldn't help his wild laughter, he had already won. He was manipulating every side and he _had _won...


	15. Chapter 16: A Step to Far

Quick note: I posted an original sci-fi story up on fictionpress .com. It's called "Shadow Net". You should be able to find the story in search either by the title "Shadow Net" or by my author name, "darthbraun". Check it out it ya want. :)

Chapter 16: A Step too Far

Geurovay, Esseles. The entire city was built atop two, flat surfaced mountains that were located right next to each other. One half of the city was built on the top of one mountain and the other half on the other mountain. The two sides of Geurovay were connected by two points. One point, a small bridge for the citizens to cross from side to side. The second point was a much larger bridge with a modern looking palace built on top of it. The palace had three, large, dark green and silver pillars placed in a triangle around the dark green main building.

The main building was built on a large, round foundation with a wide open area where the Guerovanians could walk around and view statues and and other artifacts placed around the base of the palace. There was also a lookout based on the foundation where the citizens could sit and take in the spectacular view of the surrounding Esseles land.

On the top floor of the palace there was a large balcony that overlooked all of Geurovay and the Esseles scenery much like the lookout. Zade walked out onto the balcony and leaned forward against a chrome railing. He took a deep breath as he took in the view. The city itself was well cultured and beautiful but it was nothing compared to the natural view around it. Geurovay was built so high there was so much to see. Below the palace and winding between the two mountains was a river that shined in the Esseles sun. The river continued on past the horizon. The ground was almost entirely, luscious and green trees with many other mountains breaking through the tree's canopy and reached almost high as Geurovay. It was a very calming site. A calming site that Zade needed to see at this moment.

After escaping Coruscant and making it to Esseles in one piece, Zade was quite troubled. As soon as they arrived, Sienn began talks with the Esseles president based in the capitol city, Calamar. They were trying to figure out what to do and the Jedi had no say in the matter. Right now Sienn and the Esseles president needed to figure out what was best for Esseles and not the Jedi. Until they figured out what to do, Zade and the other Jedi were being left out of the loop. Zade could only wait and hope the Jedi weren't going to be kicked off the planet. Zade wouldn't blame them if they did, nor would he argue with them if that was their final decision. It may just be too dangerous for the planet to have them on it.

Zade closed his eyes and let the sun soak into his skin and inhaled the fresh air. Esseles was so more relaxing than Coruscant. He heard the glass door behind him open. Without opening his eyes he could sense Master Koppler and Annoli walking over to him. Koppler patted him on the side of the shoulder as he stood next to Zade, "Well... The senator and the president sure seem to be dilatory in their decision making, eh?"

Zade opened his eyes and shot Koppler a nasty look, "Master Koppler, surely you don't expect them to take the safety of their planet lightly?"

"Our safety is in danger too." Koppler told him.

Annoli scoffed, "Master Koppler, that's a rather selfish thing to say for a Jedi."

Koppler shook his head, "My life isn't what I'm worried about, padawan. I'm worried that we are that last strand of true Jedi left in the galaxy. We are a small fraction of those who still live the life of the Jedi code. If we are gone, the true Jedi could die with us. That is what worries me."

"Still, we can't risk innocent lives for our goals." Annoli countered.

Zade chuckled, "Well said, padawan."

Koppler stopped paying attention and gazed upon the view. With his light sensitive eyes, he had to wear a green visor while he was outside, "Even with my visor I can tell this is a rare landscape to witness."

Annoli rolled her eyes at Koppler for abruptly changing the subject. She faced the railing and took a look for herself, "Wow, I've never seen anything quite like this."

Zade put his hand on her shoulder, "Enjoy it Annoli. With the life of a Jedi in today's age, it's rare to take a moment of peace and beauty."

Annoli smiled, "Well we are going to change that."

Koppler grunted, "To reach a point where Jedi can sit calmly, we need to first be rid of the Sith. Right now we can't even get past our own council. We are in a sad and pathetic state. The only ones we can rely on keeping the Sith at bay is the Republic... that startles me greatly. I wouldn't' even trust them to cook me a warm meal let alone halt the advances of the bloody Sith."

"The Sith have been quite for the most part as of late. I hope by the Force they'll remain so until our own conflict is over." Zade said.

"They won't remain quite once they find out that the Jedi are warring with themselves." Koppler responded.

The balcony's glass door opened behind them again. Zade turned around and saw the bothan Yaulba standing in the door way. He gave them a bow of the head, "Master Jedi. The senator would like to see you at once."

Zade gave Koppler an assuring look, "Well there you go. They must have decided what to do."

Koppler frowned, "What if they decide to banish us from the planet?"

"They won't." Zade reassured him.

"What if they _do_?" Koppler said again with emphasis.

Zade shrugged his shoulders, "...They won't."

Zade walked away from Koppler and fallowed Yaulba into the palace with Annoli fallowing close behind him. Koppler hesitated before running after them and shouted, "But... What if they do?!"

* * *

Zade and the other Jedi refugees all sat in individual chairs placed around a round table. The room they occupied was just a rectangular room with two doors and each short end of the room. The walls and ceiling were dark green and the floor was white. In each corner there was a white pillar with an image of Esseles carved into each one of them. There were eight seats in all... all in a circle. Zade couldn't help but be painfully reminded of his days sitting in the council room, being berated by the council. He was hoping this meeting wasn't going to be as painful. He looked over to the seat to his left and saw Annoli with a big smile on her face. Zade leaned over and whispered into her ear, "Why are you so happy?"

"I've just never been apart of something so big before. It's exciting. Plus, I have a good feeling about this." She whispered back.

He liked her enthusiasm. Across the table, Sienn sat with an emotionless look on her face. Zade couldn't read if it was a good look or a bad look. To his right, Master Sarval-Styr sat quietly with his arm folded on his lap. They were quiet until Yaubla walked into the room and handed Sienn a holo board with some information on it. Sienn skimmed it over and gave him a positive nod of the head. She handed it back to him and he then took a seat to her left. She clasped her hands together and placed them onto the table, "I'm sorry for taking as long as I did but the president had many things to discuss with me."

"I take it he wasn't pleased that you brought us here?" Koppler asked.

"The opposite actually. President Gull Bjuurba is a supporter of your movement. However, he was hesitant about letting you take sanctuary on Esseles for the planet's own safety." Sienn explained.

"What was the final verdict?" Zade asked.

"You will be allowed to stay here for the time being." She said, "Apparently the galactic senate is almost in as much disarray as the Jedi Order. Ever since Chancellor Errdict approved the Jedi council to start sentencing their own punishment senators and representatives have been breaking into factions and arguing with each other. We won't have to worry about the Republic for now, but the Jedi Order has their own laws and rules."

Koppler gave Zade a worried look, "Like I mentioned earlier. When the Sith find out about the Jedi... and now the senate too, they'll make their attack. We won't stand a chance."

Master Sarval remained ever cool and collective, "Master Koppler is right. We need to correct things and correct them now."

"How can we do that?" Yaulba asked them.

Zade sighed, "The council seems to be at the core of everyone's problems. We need to do something to stop them."

Master Xevioso lowered his head and curled his upper lip as if he hated to say the next words, "Perhaps it's time we attack back. It's sad to think it's come to this, but it _has_ come to this."

Zade nodded in agreement, "I think you are right. We can not hide, we can not run and I think we've delayed the inevitable long enough. I'm sure most of us knew it would come down to this. We need to personally remove the council from power."

Sienn smiled sourly, "That is another thing the president and I discussed. We are in full support of your cause. If you need our armada, you have it."

Zade and most of the Jedi were taken back a bit. They never even thought that the Esseles government would make such a bold contribution. Zade smiled, "Thank you senator. However we cannot accept this. The Jedi-"

"Remember what I told you before?" Sienn interrupted him, "The Jedi should stop taking everything onto themselves. The Jedi have helped average civilians for millennia. Now it is time to let the commons help you."

"We appreciate your generous offer, Senator." Sarval thanked her, "However, if we use an armada to fight the council it could be a bit much. This needs to be between the Jedi so our war does not fork out into other groups. I hope you understand."

Sienn reluctantly nodded her head, "I do. I only hope that someday I can lend you aid in a time of your need."

"That day may not be far off." Master Wennsis assured her, "After all their still is that little nagging problem of the Sith."

"So," Koppler clapped his hand together, "How are we going to attack the Jedi council."

"We'll also need to do something about the council's supporters within the Jedi Order. If we don't do anything about them, they will just take over as the new council." Wennsis added.

"And lets try to think of a way to do this with the minimum amount of casualties. And lets not kid ourselves, there will be casualties." Xevioso told everyone.

Zade knew he as right. Lives would be lost. It was unavoidable. Zade closed his eyes and tried to reach out to the Force. He was trying to reach out for anything he could find and feel that would give him clarity on this subject. A small twitch entered his mind, a small thought. Zade wasn't sure why, but the Force was telling him to wait. Just keep waiting. Zade could hardly believe what he was saying when he relayed his message to the others, "I've searched the Force for guidance. I believe we should wait."

As crazy as it sounded, none of the Jedi, not even Koppler, disagreed with Zade's words. They knew how well in touch Zade was with the Force and they were not one to doubt him. Yaulba and Sienn were a little skeptical. Yaulba rubbed the fur on his chin, "Waiting? I must ask, how will this accomplish anything?"

Zade forced a pitiful laughed, "Well... I do not know. I just think we should wait."

Sarval spoke, trying to speak in Zade's defense, "Perhaps... we must wait because they will come to us."

Yauble scoffed, "Highly unlikely. The Jedi wouldn't dare come here and risk a war with Esseles."

"_True_ Jedi wouldn't." Sarval said, "This council could though. They are war hungry and are only Jedi by name."

"Even so, he makes a good point." Xevioso said to Sarval, "The council is insane but are still not to be taken as fools. Esseles has a strong armada and they wouldn't come here and risk facing them. They need the Republic's support before they can even come close to Esseles."

"And they won't be getting it." Sienn mentioned, "The Republic dose not want to lose Esseles' support in this war with the Sith. They won't support the Jedi Council in this matter."

Annoli groaned and rubbed the temples of her head, "Oh, wars with the Sith. Wars with the council. Wars within the Republic. Wars within the Jedi Order. This is all so stressful."

Zade leaned over and whispered to her, "Just do that meditation I taught you earlier."

She whispered back, "Here? Now? In front of everyone?"

"Whenever you feel comfortable." He responded.

"Alright." She said.

"So," Wennsis said, "If you don't think they are going to come to us, do you think we should wait and let things resolve themselves?"

"Maybe." Zade told her, "Like I said, I do not know why we should wait. I just believe we should."

Sienn finally tapped the palms of her hands on the tabletop, "Well then... I too think we should wait."

* * *

It was later that day and the sun had set more toward the horizon. Zade and Annoli were back on the balcony. Annoli was sitting on her knees with her back against the railing. Her eyes were closed in a deep meditation. Earlier he was even meditating with her. He was trying to find deeper guidance, but found nothing new.

He now leaned against the railing and once again gazed upon the local scenery. He was captivated by the way the sun would flicker off the river's surface and could be seen miles away. He was awestruck until he felt a slight twinge in the Force and a slight tug at his pant leg. He looked down and saw Annoli still in her sitting position, "Something wrong, Annoli?"

She nodded her head, "Yeah. I had another one of those bad feelings. Like a maddening shiver through the force."

Zade was impressed with how in touch with the Force she was. Maybe even more than he. He felt it too but in her meditation she could grasp it better. Calmly he asked her, "Could you tell me anything more about it? Was it a warning? A vision?"

She sighed, "I think... I think it was a warning."

He reached down and patted her on the shoulder, "Very well then. Perhaps we should go inside."

She looked up at him, "Y-you don't think the bridge this palace is built on will collapse into the river bellow, do you?"

He laughed, "Why? Are you afraid that it will?"

She sort of laughed in embarrassment, "Well, ever since we arrived here, yeah."

"I wouldn't' be too worried about that." He assured her.

"So, it won't collapse?" She asked.

"Well... it's not imposable but it would require a bomb or something to take out the supports." He answered.

She had a very worried and unconvinced look on her face, "You are not very good at reassuring young adults like me, are you?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Guess not."

He gave her a hand up and they began walking back to the palace. Suddenly, Zade sensed a full out warning. Annoli gasped loudly as she felt it a second later. Zade spun around and glared into the sky, "I can sense it too, padawan! Get inside!"

He pushed her into the doorway just as a red laser bolt struck near Zade's side where Annoli was once standing. The blast that occurred when the beam hit the ground was enough to send Zade flying onto his back. Annoli quickly ran outside and joined Zade just as he hopped up onto his feat. He grabbed his two lightsaber handles and ignited the two yellow blades. Annoli was reaching for her own sabers when Zade shouted to her, "Get inside, Annoli. Now!"

"But-"She started.

"Go!" He commanded.

Reluctantly, she obeyed and ran back into the palace and away from any visible harm. Zade stood firmly as he eyed the sky looking for anything that could have shot at them. He couldn't see anything with his naked eye but he could feel a danger looming in the air. The sun. He couldn't stare into the sun and if something wanted to make a stealthy aerial assault it would be wise to hide in the sun's blinding light. Zade gripped his lightsabers as he leapt backward into a reverse somersault just as a flurry of laser bolts hit the ground. Granite dust was kicked into the air as each laser bolt left a divot in the balcony floor.

He could barley recover from his landing before another flurry of lasers hit the ground around him. He had to quickly juke and dodge to avoid the deadly strikes. Pieces of shattered granite flooring would hit his face as they sprayed outward after being struck by laser fire. He had to ignore the pain as a giant chunk of granite hit him in the left rib. Better flooring hit him than a laser.

Finally he was able to fully recover and look up to the skies again. He was able to make out the attacker. He clenched his teeth as he recognized it to be a Jedi Starfighter. The ship had to fly out of the sunlight to pull up and away from the approaching palace. The ship looped up and backward to begin another attack. Zade readied himself for another attack just as the ship did the same. The ship fired yet another flurry of lasers. This time Zade dodged all but one. With the last bolt, he swung his left saber in a strong arc that volleyed the bolt back at the ship. The bolt found it's mark as it struck the starfighter's left side.

The bolt tore into the ship's weak shielding and ripped a whole in it's hull. Smoke bellowed out and the ship's engine shut down. It began a tail spin as it stared falling down the into the gap between the two mountains. The ship's canopy popped open and the pilot used a strong Force jump leapt from the ship and toward the balcony. Zade ran toward the edge of the balcony just as the pilot landed feet first on the railing. The pilot ignited a blue lightsaber and swept the blade at Zade just as Zade slashed one of his sabers toward the pilot's feat. The two blades clashed and the pilot leapt behind Zade, toward the door.

Zade spun around to face the attacker and made out the bald headed, Master Goullovan. The same Jedi that tried to arrest him on Coruscant. Zade saw Master Koppler running for the balcony's doorway, grabbing at his lightsaber. Goullovan removed a thermal detonator from under his robe and tossed the explosive at the door way. The device hit the side of the door and exploded, shattering the glass and causing the door way to cave in, blocking the balcony's only entrance. Zade bared his teeth and barked at the council member, "What are you doing?! Are you insane? What kind of madness has control over the council to warrant an attack on an innocent planet?"

"I will not be made a fool of!" He shot back.

"Thats what this is about?" He was in disbelief, "This is over what I did to you on Coruscant?! To be enraged by such a loss or pride is to be mad with power!"

"Shut up!" He said in a chaotic rage. He _was _insane.

"Fool!" Zade shouted as he charged the Master.

Zade twirled the two sabers at each of his sides in attempt to throw Goullovan off, not knowing which blade would attack first. Zade struck his left saber toward his attacker's legs. Goullovan blocked that attack as well as Zade's fallow up attack with his right lightsaber toward Goullovan's head. Goullovan countered with a quick stab of his own. Zade rolled to his left, dodging the blow. Zade then countered with a double strike to Goullovan's back. He responded by rolling down and away from Zade and his attack.

Goullovan hopped back to his feat and ran away from Zade to regain his composure. He turned back around to face Zade again. He snarled at Zade, "You betrayed the Jedi Order and you will face your punishment."

"_You_ and the council have betrayed the Jedi!" Zade shot back, "You have turned your back to the teachings, to the Force! You are a venom to the Jedi and to the Republic alike. If I must then take the burden as the healing antidote, then so be it. I will rid the galaxy of your sickness!"

Goullovan charged toward Zade while he swung his lightsaber over his head. He tried to cleave the saber down on Zade's head but Zade was able to cross his two sabers into an "X" shape to guard the blow. Zade then uncrossed the blades and threw his weight forward, pushing Goullovan and his lightsaber away form him. As Goullovan was pushed back, his right foot fell into a crater on the balcony's surface caused by Goullovan's own lasers. The loose flooring crumbled under Goullovan's foot and caused him to fall backward. Zade quickly took advantage and swiped his two blades down toward Goullovan's falling body. Goullovan managed to block one saber as he fell, but not both. The unblocked saber hit the left side of Goullovan's left arm, searing off a large section of his arm, but not detaching the limb.

Goullovan winched in pain as he hit the ground, hard. He rolled backward on the ground and leapt back onto his feat, near the railing. He was was in pain and his arm was bleeding and what wasn't bleeding was scorched and burned by the lightsaber's blade. Goullovan never hesitated on the battle. He held his saber, one handed, in a defiant stance. Zade continued with his attack and took a few steps toward Goullovan to begin another strike. Zade faced Goullovan sideways with his left side facing Goullovan. He then began a battle with Goullovan with only his left saber. The two clashed thier strikes together and when one attacked, one blocked and then countered, repeat. Zade kept his right hand away from his body, facing away from Goullovan. He was keeping his right saber away from the battle. Zade was relying on using the left handed strikes to open Goullovan up for a blow from his waiting right handed lightsaber.

As the battle continued on Goullovan became tired, quickly. With his wound, his body movement was becoming sluggish and sloppy. Finally, after the constant battling, Goullovan opened himself for an attack when he had to guard a swiping attack from his left. To block the swipe he had to take his good arm away from his body. Zade then used his right handed saber like a club in an overhead sweep toward Goullovan. Goullovan was still aware enough to leap to his side and avoid the blow. Zade's missing lightsbaer hit the railing and seared right through the metal and hit the baclony's ground causing sparks to fly into Zade's eyes.

Zade was now open for an attack as Goullovan took his good arm and struck his blade toward the back of Zade's head. Zade had to quickly lower his head and roll on to his back just as Goullovan's lightsaber was swept inches above Zade's head, missing a deathblow but cut off a lock of Zade's hair.

As Goullovan's attack missed. Zade saw that Goullovan was completely open. He took both sabers and while he was still on his back, Zade flailed his two sabers upward and sliced both of them through Goullovan's body, cutting his body in three. Goullovan gasped a final breath as all three sections of his body fell to the ground. Zade has to roll away to avoid Goullovan's falling lightsaber.

Zade got to his feat and took another look at the skies. He tried to sense other fighters or attackers but he couldn't feel anything. Goullovan had attacked by himself? Zade was confused about why the Jedi Council would send one Jedi Master in such a bold assault. It made little sense from a tactical standpoint to send one Jedi versus five Jedi and a padawan, even if that one was in a starfighter. The council was many things and tactically sound was one of them. Perhaps... Goullovan acted alone? Was he really driven to such an act by what happened on Corruscant?

Zade looked back to the balcony's entrance and remember there was no exit. He would have to make one. He sighed as he switched one blade off and clipped it to his belt. He gripped the remaining saber with both hands and plunged into the floor bellow him. He sunk the saber down all the was to the hilt. Sparks flew as molten metal overflowed from the hole the saber made. Zade was planing on scorching a hole open to the lower level until he realized... the floor under him was thicker than the length of the blade of his lightsaber. Zade sighed as he walked over the railing, switching off his other saber, and sat down next to the railing. He closed his eyes and began a meditation to rejuvenate himself as he waited for the others to send a ship or speeder up to get him...

__________________________________________\-**V**-/_______________________________________

Adian Klypso stood in an empty Jedi Council room, gazing out the frontward window at Coruscant, the planet which in her mind, belonged to her. The sky was red as the sun was falling on the Coruscant day. She looked back over her shoulder and stared at one of the empty chairs that the council sits at. This seat once belonged to Master Goullovan, but the foolish Jedi Master met his fate at the hands of the rogue Jedi. He acted on his own volition when he stepped foot on Esseles. Adian knew the Republic and the Senate would not be pleased with the Jedi Order. Her worries were confirmed when she heard a beep behind her, fallowed by the voice of a droid talking over a speaker in the center of the room, "Master Klypso, incoming call from the Chancellor."

Klypso clenched her jaw as she nodded her head, "Very well."

She waved her hand toward a panel on the side of the wall, across the room, and used the Force to dull the lights. Then a dark gray and white holo image of Chancellor Errdict appeared in the center of the room. Klypso still stood with her back toward his image, "Hello, Chancellor. No need to tell me what this is about."

The Koorivar Chancellor's face was angry but he was attempting to remain calm in his throne like seat, "Master Jedi... Are you aware that your fellow council member may have severed the Republic's alliance with Esseles? Are you also aware how valuable that planet, that system, is to the Republic?"

"I am aware of that. However, Master Goullovan acted on his own. The council had nothing to do-" She began.

"I don't want to hear it!" Errdict interrupted with an enraged tone, "With the threat of losing Esseles' support for your careless actions, the Senate is falling apart. They are breaking off into groups fighting amongst themselves. And nearly all the Senators are calling, demanding for my resignation!"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but have they not been calling for you resignation for awhile?" She asked him with a tone of arrogance.

He laughed harshly, "Quite the mouth you have for a Jedi. You, the council, you Force-users show no respect for an obviously more regal and superior individual."

"Superior?" She angrily repeated, "Nothing is more superior than the Force because the Force is everything. You are a worm to me. You are nothing more than bait on a hook to me. Your power resides in your sharp tongue and your meaningless wealth you inherited from your father. Your father, who built himself up from nothing and with his own bloody and bare hands, he created an industrial empire. Such a hard working man, to be cursed with a leach of a son must have been quite unfortunate for him. But I suppose the Force willed it... so it was. That is what the Force is capable of and you would be wise to respect that. Your title as Chancellor means nothing."

Errdict clenched his jaw as he stared at the back of Adian who was still not facing his holo-image, "My _useless_ title as Chancellor and the power that it holds has been supporting the Jedi Council for years and you owe everything to me. You replay me with blind stupidity. No more. I've had enough of the _useless_ Jedi Council."

This got her attention enough for her to finally turn around and face the holo-image of the Chancellor. She raised an upper lip in a slight snarl, "What are you saying? The Republic is defenseless against the Sith without the power of the Jedi."

"True." He laughed with a sick glee, "Power the Jedi have, and power is what the Republic needs. That is why I'm disbanding the Jedi Council and making the Jedi Order an official division of the Republic. This was your last thread for you to hold on and it has been cut. The council is dismissed. Every action of the Jedi will now be guided by the Senate. They are an army, a brigade under Republic rule."

Klypso stomped her foot down and and began protesting, "The Jedi are not tools of the Republic!"

He laughed again, "Really? What would you call these past years. I've dictated every step the Council made. I realize now that I should just cut the _useless_ middle man. The council is a pest made only to be exterminated. I'll be sending soldiers to remove you and every council member from the Jedi Temple today. I will at least give you time to pack your things."

She was about to protest more until the image cut and fizzled out. She stood there with her eyes wide open and her jaw dropped. She felt lost and confused. This was not right. This was not right!!! There could be no Jedi Order without the Jedi Council. The Republic couldn't control the Jedi! The Jedi were free from government rule! They were... They used to be... She realized that the Jedi were not free anymore and the reason may have fallen on her. She had led the Jedi into a snare of the Republic and it was Chancellor Errdict's plan all along.

He had influenced every current council member's seat in the Jedi Council. They were all placed on the council because he called for it. The last remaining Jedi who wasn't part of Errdict's doing was Master Zade Rad'hyth, the Jedi that was nothing but a bother to her and the council. He was named to the council by other Jedi and not Errdict. Was this really all her fault? Was she really the reason the Jedi were in this state? No, it couldn't be her fault... No. It was Errdict's fault for influencing the Jedi Council. It was Rad'Hyth's fault for his constant misconduct. It was the rogue Jedi who brought this, not her... this was her position and state of mind.

She turned around and looked back out to Coruscant. The sun was falling and the sky was almost dark. She slumped down into one of the council chairs and looked down at the lightsaber clipped to her robe. The lightsaber, a symbol of the Jedi. What had the symbol, the meaning of the Jedi become? What did the Jedi stand for now? She no longer knew.

She looked at the twelve chairs that the Jedi Council would sit during their gatherings. This was what the Jedi were supposed to be. Twelve Jedi Masters ruling over the Jedi Order. Giving them guidance, giving them cause, giving them rule. She had lost that power. The _council _had lost that power. She needed it back. The Council needed it back. They were going to take it back! First they needed to destroy the rouge Jedi. They were the biggest hurdle. If they were out of the way, the Republic would again be in favor of the Jedi Council and the council would regain some of it's power.

She looked back over her shoulder at the Coruscant sky. The sun had vanished and darkness reigned over the sky. A dark smile ran across her face. The Republic thinks that they can rule over the Jedi? They think they can take the council's place? After the rebelling Jedi were exterminated, the chancellor would be next. Then the council's law would no longer rule just over the Jedi, but the entire galaxy...


	16. Chapter 17: Emotions

___________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 17: Emotions.

A week had passed since Vayne, Lwyn, and I had joining into an alliance and began meeting in the abandoned archive room. Not much had changed in Hyarsythe except for the fact that an eighth of the remaining students had died in De'Kyte's mandatory duels. The death count for me stood at two, including Shirtless. Lwyn also had two. Vayne had one. Vayne was quite shaken up after his first experience taking a life. He had since gotten over it.

My biggest worry was that we'd become desensitized to killing. In an attempt to stop that from happening I made the three of us think about the lives we took. Maybe not think of them exactly, but maybe a mother or father who gave birth to the child that was taken from them. It wasn't meant to make us feel worse about what we did, though it did, but to keep our minds right and aware of how precious life is.

As for our meeting, we didn't really have any specific schedule. Whenever we weren't taking part in or watching the deadly duels, we would spend our time in the archive room. Sometimes we would even train our blades in the large cave like room outside the archive room that was also abandoned.

It was a few hours past today's duels that thankfully none of us were forced to take part in them. Vayne and I sat at the largest table inside the archive room. Lwyn was getting something to eat. Vayne was reading a scroll about the lesser evils of the Sith teachings while I stood off to the side, levitating four lightsaber handles around my body with ease. Four of them being the fake lightsbaer handle given to me by Ollose, the actually lightsaber given to me by Ollose, the one I took from Shirtless, and the last I took from the other student I defeated in the duels.

After continuing to work on this technique throughout the week, I had come close to mastering it. I could even walk with my arms at my side and keep the lightsabers floating beside me, or even spin them around my body like a planet's ring. It still wasn't as fast and fluid as I'd like though. It still needed work. I also had trouble controlling each saber individually. At this stage of my self teaching, if I wanted to move one saber up, all four of them would go up. I still didn't have enough control to make one saber go up, one go down, one twirl around, and another remain in place. Things like that. That part was going to be far from easy.

Vayne pointed to a section of the scroll her was reading, "Here is a part about Sith emotional manipulation."

I let the sabers drop to the ground as I walked over to him and looked down over his shoulder at the scroll. There a was primate drawing of a stick figure clad in a crude looking robe standing next to another figure piercing a spear through it's own body. I frowned, "This is a Sith technique used to take a person's strongest emotion and turn it against them by amplifying it well beyond any of the victim's other emotions. Stronger Sith can even drive a weaker mind into suicidal or homicidal madness."

"Gruesome." He responded, "I don't want to learn this one."

"The Jedi have a similar technique though it's result is much... friendlier. If you are in a panic for instance, I can send calming emotions through your body to help to relax calm you down. Instead of bring you to the brink of madness, it takes you back to the norm." I told him.

"I wouldn't mind learning that one." He said with an impressed nod of the head.

"That one will come in time. There are simpler and base things you should learn first." I explained.

"I know, I know." He said, "I was just saying I'd like to learn it."

"Okay." I huffed out as I plopped down onto a chair next to the table.

I reached underneath the table where there was a crate of yabil snacks. Last week, I _may_ or may not have stolen a crate or two... or four, of food as the Sith were taking away all the good cafeteria food back up to the surface. Two crates of yabil snacks, one crate of the dehydrated meat, and another crate of powdered soup. Just add water to the powder and you've got cold soup, yum. Even though the meat and soup isn't very tasty, there was a larger supply of it and we needed regular, filling food that wasn't the current slop that they now served. The yabil snacks were just an added bonus.

As I pulled out a small, wrapped package of the yabil snacks, Vayne scoffed, "How can you eat those nasty little dirt balls?"

"It's not dirt, its chocolate." I corrected him.

"Tastes the same to me." He countered.

"Would you rather eat flies, frog-face?" I responded with a slight laugh.

"Don't call my frog-face..." He said under his breath.

"Sorry... Swamp-man." I said with more laughter.

He chuckled himself but jabbed lightly at my shoulder, "Shut up... Hey, can I ask you something?"

"What?" I replied.

He leaned over and whispered, even though there wasn't anyone else in the room let alone the entire floor, "Lwyn, you think she could go for me? You don't think she one of those, 'stick to your own species people' do you?"

For some reason a part of that question bothered me. I wasn't sure why but I didn't let it get to me. I responded to him with a snicker, "I don't think that she is but I doubt you are her type anyways."

"Why is that?" He asked in his regular tone of voice.

"Because she can see and hear. You should aim for a girl with bad hearing and bad eyesight." I teased.

"Pssh! Whatever... It just so happens that many girls find my head tentacles cute." He said with a cocky grin.

"I thought you never left your home planet?" I asked.

"Right." He said.

"So those girls... were of the same species?" I asked with a large, toothy smile.

"...Yes." He grumbled.

"So..." I let him figure it out.

"Alright, so girls of my species think I'm cute. Why should a human see me any differently?" He asked.

"Alright, whatever. If you think about it, you are a farm boy and she is a street urchin. Two different worlds." I told him.

"I guess you are right... Thought I had a chance too." He said.

"Stop talking about me behind my back." A voice said from behind Vayne.

Vayne nearly jumped from his chair as Lwyn walked from behind him and over to the chair furthest from him. Lwyn and I were both laughing at the look on Vayne's face. Lwyn had a very special talent to hide herself from the Force and Vayne couldn't even sense her enter the room. I could barley sense it. I wasn't even sure if it was her until she walked behind him and stood there behind him, listening in on the conversation. Vayne, embarrassed, sat up straight and asked with a crackling voice, "H-how much did you hear?"

"Where you were bragging how popular you are with the ladies back on your home planet." She said with a full smile, nearly laughing. She had a very lovely smile. Almost as striking as her piercing, violet eyes... ahem...

I tossed her the rest of the yabil snacks I had taken out, "Here. I figure you could use these after eating that slop."

Even though we had our own food we still had to eat that poor excuse for "food" since we didn't want to look to suspicious. We wanted to keep our daily activities normal to the eyes of others. I'm sure many people noticed the three of us had some sort of alliance but alliances weren't uncommon on Hyarsythe. Sort of like Shirtless' group, which had now been completely wiped out over this past week. However we didn't want it to seem that we were beyond just a simple alliance. We were actually an enemy force in their own territory. So we had to eat that slop once and awhile because it would look weird if students all a sudden stopped eating. They might not think that we were some double agents just from that, but they'd probably realize who stole a few shipments of their food.

Lwyn caught the snacks I threw to her and pulled out a single yabil snack and held it over to Vayne with a smile on her face, "Want one, handsome?"

Vayne ignored her "_handsome_" comment, or taunt, as he grabbed another scroll and began reading. Lwyn popped a hand full of the snack food into her mouth before she did the same with another scroll. With the two of them studying I decided to go back my practice. But as I got up Vayne whistled and clicked his tongue, "Here it is."

"Here is what?" Lwyn asked him.

He lifted the scroll up and showed her another crude drawing. I looked over and saw another stick figure in a cloak shooting lightning from it's hands. Vayne said, "The dreaded Sith lightning. ZAP!"

She shivered in response and looked some what pale, "Ehh, don't remind me of that."

"Yeah, I can't forget what happened to Lokindr's apprentice either. It's an image that burns into the mind's eye." He told her as he placed the scroll back down onto the table.

"It's not just that... it's... never mind." She said before she shivered again.

"What?" Vayne tried to get her to talk.

I could sense it though, what she was feeling. I didn't need the Force to know what she was thinking. I stood there with my hands on my hips and a teasing smile, "You are afraid of lightning?"

She winced, "Lightning, thunder, storms in general. I hate them."

"Thats tough to be afraid of. You really can't escape storms unless you are on a barren planet." Vayne said.

"Or on an underwater base." I pointed out.

"I know. It's the one perk down here." She said.

"What, were you struck by lightning or something?" Vayne asked.

"No, but I could have. I spent a good chunk of my life without a house or shelter. Whether I was with my sister or alone we'd be stuck outside most of the time. Whenever we found shelter we wouldn't be able to stay there long. So I was outside whenever there was a storm and storms on J'Rekk weren't just rain and lightning. It was always dark so the lightning looked all the more alive when it struck. Lighting could sometimes strike nearly every other second. The rain was heavy and cold and always windy."

"Pretty harsh." I said straightly. I guess it wasn't really funny anymore now that I heard her story.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm not going to start crying whenever it rains or anything. Its just that Sith lightning was... awfully reminiscent. I'm not _afraid_ of storms... I'm _cautious_ of it." She tried to put a spin on words.

Vayne laughed, "Well, well. Ms. Tough-Know-It-All is scared of storms. How the tables have turned..."

"What are you afraid of?" I asked him to turn the topic off Lwyn.

"Wha- me?" He asked suddenly.

"Everyone is afraid of something." I told him with a dark smirk.

"Well... maybe I don't want to tell you." He said with snap back of his head..

"I'll tell you what I'm afraid of if you tell us." I said, in a similar moment when we told each other our pasts.

"Alright, you first." He told me.

Quickly and nonchalantly I said, "I'm afraid of the darkness that inhabits my own mind. The power that I've been blessed and cursed with. Maybe the next dark vision I have could lead into another war and loss of lives...Your turn."

They both had their mouths gapped open after I finished. Lwyn shifted in her seat, "Ya know... I don't feel so bad about my fear anymore."

"Me neither." Vayne said as he began telling us, "I'm afraid of being buried alive. Sometimes I have nightmares... about being buried alive."

"Well thats a very legit fear." I told him, comfortingly.

"Yeah. I don't think anyone wants that." Lwyn agreed.

"I guess my fear isn't quite as bad as your two... I can never win these comparison games." He chuckled.

"No, no you can't." I said with a smile.

"You just aren't pathetic enough to compete with us, Vayne." She told him.

"Whats next? Are we going to compare our most embarrassing moments?" I asked sarcastically. It was sort of an ongoing joke between the three of us. Everyday we gathered here we'd end up sharing some sort of related information about ourselves. The first time we talked about our pasts.

We've talked about jobs we've had in the past. I told them a few stories about my days as a padawan and then how I turned freedom fighter after I was outcast. Lwyn told us about things she did on J'Rekk. For the most part, she was a thief which was a common profession on J'Rekk. She also tried opening a small market once but she was robbed from so often she could never make a profit. Thats the circle of J'Rekk. You steal, you are stolen from. Vayne farmed. Nothing we hadn't already known from him.

Another time we talked about our families. This was one time where Vayne had the most to talk about. His father we already knew was tough on him. His mother was sort of distant from him. They didn't talk much though they got along just fine. He has quite a few brothers and sisters but he never got along with them either. They were like his father. Lwyn had her family problems with her father, obviously. As well as her sister who I knew she still loved, but she had to cast aside due to her sister's association. I had no family I knew by blood but I had plenty of people I'd call family in the Jedi Order. Master Tal, Master Sarval-Styr, Master Rad'Hyth, Master Takie, there were quite a few.

After we finished talking about our fears we went back to our work. Them with their reading of scrolls and me with my lightsaber levitation trick. We went on like this for about a half hour. I was getting tired of trying to move one saber one way and another saber the opposite way and failing. I hadn't made much progress today so I figured I'd stop for now. I let the sabers drop to the ground again and I walked back to the table, again.

I put my hands down on the table as I leaned down against the table. I looked over to see what Lwyn was reading. She saw me looking and pointed to a section of the scroll, "How about this one? Relaxing meditation?"

I nodded, "A meditation that relaxes the body and mind. With enough experience it can even help one's body mend minor wounds and aches. I know this one."

"When can we learn it?" She asked.

I thought for a second before I smiled, "I could probably teach you that now."

They both perked up in their seats. I haven't really been able to tech them anything yet because I wanted them to read up on a few things first. I'm sure they were ready by now. I pointed to an empty spot on the floor, "Sit there on the ground."

They both got up from their chairs and did as I said. They sat crossed legged on the floor. As I stood before them, they looked up at me anxiously. I looked down a them and smiled, "The way I was taught was quite simple because when you've mastered it, you can not only use it on yourself but to others as well. Master Tal placed his hands on my shoulders and sent calming waves through my body."

"This is what we talked about earlier isn't it? I thought you said this we weren't there yet." Vayne asked me.

"Yes. Only, I'll be teaching you how to meditate yourselves. Doing this to others is much later." I told him.

"Ah." He said, understanding.

"Master Tal told me to keep my mind focused on the calming feeling. Copy the feeling and engrave it into my mind. If I can remember the feeling myself, it will be easier for me to summon that feeling myself. So I'm going to do it to you two and I want you to engrave the feeling into your minds." I explained.

"Got it." Lwyn responded.

"Me too." Vayne fallowed in response.

"Okay." I said to them and to myself. I walked behind them so I could put my hands on their shoulders and send them calming waves. I stood behind Lwyn first. I noticed she was wearing a black jacket covering her shoulders. Master Tal once told me it worked better with bare skin unless you had more training. I did not have that advanced training. I felt kind weird and awkward asking her to take her jacket off so I could touch her shoulders. It wasn't an unreasonable question but it felt... weird. Vayne was wearing a tank top so I decided to start with him instead.

I walked behind him, knelt down and put my hands on his shoulders. I instructed to him, "Close your eyes, close your ears, and close your mind. Focus only on the relaxing pulses."

"I can't close my eye." He responded.

"Oh, right." I forgot, he didn't have eyelids. I had to think for a moment, "Uhh... well what do you do when you sleep?"

"I sleep, period." He told me plainly.

I couldn't help but ask, "Really? So you don't even close your eyes while you sleep? How do you keep dirt and stuff out of your eyes?"

"I have secondary eyelids but they are clear. They aren't like human eyelids." He explained.

"What do you do if there is a bright light?" Lwyn asked.

He was getting impatient, "I cover my eyes with my hand or something else. Anything else?!"

"Interesting." She said with a slight giggle at Vayne's aggravation.

"Okay, so just try to block out... umm... your vision." I told him, like an idiot.

"I can't block out my vision." He protested.

Lwyn and I both had trouble not laughing. I had to stifle my laughter as I told him, "I know just... concentrate."

"I see why you never made it to Jedi." He commented.

"Yes. I can now see why too." I said with a slight chuckle, "Just concentrate now."

I closed my eyes and started sending the calm pulses through his body. He was relaxed so it made things easier. For a few minutes we continued with the practice. It was all simple and uneventful, exactly what it was supposed to be. I decided that was enough so I pulled my hands away. As I did I calmly said to him, "Stay calm. Try to keep this meditation yourself."

He sat there and tried to keep his meditation going, unassisted from me. He shook his head however, "Sorry. I lost it."

"Don't worry about it. It'll take some time. Keep at it. Just try to remember that pulse on your own and try to dig it back out. If you don't make any progress in a couple days we'll try again." I instructed to him.

"Alright." He agreed.

Lwyn anxiously clapped her hands together, "My turn."

I walked over to her, "Remove your jacket please."

"Oh... alright." She said as she slid her jacket off and tossed it aside. She wore a black, sleeveless top underneath. I kneeled down next to her and hesitantly put my hands on her shoulders. It felt very uncomfortable. It wasn't uncomfortable because I was doing anything wrong but their was this feeling I had towards her. A feeling that could be very troublesome. Vayne laughed to himself. I quick, snapped my hands away and looked over to him, "Whats so funny?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing. I just find it funny when humans blush out of embarrassment."

Lwyn and I both sat there, uncomfortably. I had no idea I was blushing. I rubbed my cheeks trying to get the red to flow out of them. Lwyn reached over and grabbed her jacket. She stood up and put it back on, "M-maybe we should try this some other time?"

She then walked over to the table and sat down. She grabbed a scroll and hid her face behind it. She never even looked at me. I felt like a jerk. My feelings had made a normal situation very, very wrong. I shot Vayne a nasty look and whispered, "Why did you make me look like a fool?"

He jerked his head back with a look of confusion on his face, "You? You weren't the one blushing."

I was taken aback, "Wait... what? Really? I wasn't."

He laughed, "Why? Should you have been?"

"No." I told him sternly before realizing something and started stammered like a buffoon, "Wait.. so then... Wait, what?"

He shook his head and laughed at my verbal incoherence, "You were right. I'm not here type. You are."

"Quite down." I told him, "That... doesn't mean anything."

Vayne yawned and spoke with playful tone, "You know what? I think I'm tired. You know I'm still getting used to the timing here. Back home this would be late at night. I think I'll head to my room and call it a night, or day. Leave you two here."

"No." I protested.

He stood up and began walking toward the door. He waved back over his shoulder, "I'll see you two tomorrow."

I just sat there for awhile and looked over to Lwyn who was still keeping her face behind a scroll. I stood up and was thinking off leaving the tension filled room but Lwyn dropped the scroll down and sighed, "That was..."

"Nothing." I simply said.

"Right." She said in agreement.

"So," I struggled to find any words that would direct this conversation any other possible friggin way, "What scroll are you reading?"

She looked down and read it, "This is... the same scroll. The one with the meditation on it."

"Ah." I sounded pretty stupid.

I sat their in silence before Lwyn came up with a new topic, "So I know what Vayne is going to do after we escape this death hole, he is going be a pilot somewhere. How about you?"

I had to say it was a good topic change because my mind completely changed course. I sat down at a chair across from her and looked off into blank air, "You know. I never thought of that."

"What? Really?" She made it sound like I was an idiot for being so clueless... a lot of that going around today for me, "You never thought to plan past Hyarsythe?"

"I've been so concerned about how to get out of Hyarsythe I never thought about what I'd do." I confessed.

"Well, you should think about it. If you have an idea on your life goal, it'll be more incentive to live. I can't have you not thinking about life because if you aren't thinking about your life, you aren't thinking about mine." She had very wise words for me.

I snickered, "You sound like a Jedi Master or something."

"Thank you." She said with forced humility, "I'm a very wise person once you get past my gruff personality."

I nodded and laughed, "I guess so."

"So you'll just have to think about it." She said, ending this topic.

"What about you?" I asked.

"Me?" She smiled, "I've lived my life on two planets. J'Rekk and now Apsus. I don't want to die having only seen two of the worst planets in the galaxy. I want to travel to some of the most beautiful planets. Adventure to exotic places. Maybe try some gourmet foods."

"The darkness of J'Rekk and Hyarsythe submerged underwater. Maybe at very least you can live to see some sun?" I joked.

"Thats would be nice too." She said with a smile.

"Maybe Vayne can fly you." I added.

"Maybe. Maybe you too? The three of us? Or... never mind." She said, blushing again.

That reminded me of something. Something very important. The way she said that reminded me of something I've heard before. I laughed out loud as I added another piece to the plan. A very important part, the exit. I laughed loudly. Lwyn seemed a little disappointed, "Well it was just a suggestion you don't have to laugh at it."

"No." I told her, "Not that. I think I've figured a new part of the plan out."

Her eyes grew wide, "Really? What?"

I shook my head, "Not now. It may not work. I'll tell you once I figure it out fully."

She sighed, "Fine. I don't like that you are keeping parts of the plan a secret."

"Sorry." I apologized to her, "But you know, I think traveling with you two isn't a bad idea but I don't think it'll work. Even though I seem to have found some place I fit in with you and Vayne. Just looking at my past lineup, the Jedi cast me out, the Jedi Council hates me. I tried being a vigilante freedom fighter against the Sith but I didn't always agree with their policies so I left there. I tired living a simple life as a mechanic but I realized turning my back on the Force was a waste. That is why I don't think I could... travel with you and Vayne as much as I'd like to. I've sort of cast off my own life. I live to rid the galaxy of the Sith. My life is no longer my own."

She smiled weakly, "Ah, I see. That's a heavy burden you put on yourself. I don't think thats what you really want though, is it?"

I smiled and nodded, "Yeah... yeah. A part of me wants to still live my life as a citizen. The other, logical half of me knows I cannot. At one point of my life I planned on living as a Jedi. I wouldn't have had a personal life as a Jedi. I was willing to do it once and I've told myself I must again."

She stood up from her chair and walked over to me. She pulled out another chair and took a seat next to and facing me. She looked me in the eyes and placed her hand on my own, "Well, you've talked about living between the dark and the light. Why can't you live between your life you live and the life you've chosen for the sake of others? There is no reason for you to limit your entire life to one thing. That is what the Jedi do. That is what the Sith do. We are not them."

I smiled at her, "Very, very good point."

She smiled back, "And if you wouldn't mind. Maybe I can along fight with you."

I placed my hand on top of hers and looked into her violet eyes, "That would be... nice..."

Ollsoe couldn't stifle his laughter. He couldn't for the life of him stop laughing! He slapped his hands against the chair inside his room as his new apprentice watched him, silent. Vedalt'e finally calmed himself enough to stare at his apprentice, at Lwyn, "Ceddes has an attraction to the one who will stab him in the back? This is perfect!"

She looked down at the ground and remained silent for awhile before she barley managed to speak, "He... also came up with something else. Another part of his master blueprint. He wouldn't tell me what it was just yet. He wants to make it perfect before he tells us."

"Hmm," Ollose grumbled, "For such a smart, gifted, and clever one, he is quite dumb to put his trust in you. No?"

She seemed hurt by her master's words and took a step back. Ollose sneered, "What's this? Regrets, my apprentice? I feel a very troublesome emotion within you, girl."

She shook her head and stood defiantly toward him, "No, Master. It's just..."

"Hmph." He grumbled, "These feelings of yours will get in the way. You had better remove them, now."

"Yes, Master." She responded with a forced calm.

He pointed and wagged his finger at her, "Don't screw this up, you! We are in control here. We will take Hysrsythe and I can't have your foolish little sentiment for Nemea get in the way."

"It won't.... I don't feel that way. This is just a side effect from an act. That's it. This is just a role I'm playing." She tried to convince him.

"I don't believe that." He said with a chuckle. He didn't mind this new development. Not at all. If she was growing feelings for Ceddes Nemea or Laan as his true name, it would only be another way to control her, and draw her deeper into the dark side. Eventually Ceddes will die and she will feel responsible. She will then give herself to the dark embrace of the Sith and she will be his puppet fully and completely. Ollose loved his position. It seemed that no matter what happened lately, everything was in his favor.

Lwyn clenched her fists tightly, "Tell me what to do. I'll prove my words are true."

"Even if I told you to kill him?" He asked.

She nodded her head with visible hesitance and regret, "Yes."

Ollose didn't believe her but it didn't matter. He grunted at her, "Whatever. We can't have him dead just yet. You are just to continue spying on Nemea... or Laan. Whatever this kid's name is. I don't' care!"

"Is that all?" She asked almost angry and sharply at him.

"Get out of here." He yelped at her.

She gave him a quick, mocking bow of the head before walking out of the room. As she walked away from him, he began laughing again. As Lwyn reached the exit and the doors opened she stopped in her tracks and Ollose's laughter ceased. Phyress Lokindr stood in the entranceway just as the doors slid open. She wore a white, featureless mask that covered her entire face except for her right eye. Lwyn nervously gave her a bow of the head before sneaking past her and out of the room. Phyress strode over to Ollose who had a very angered look on his face, "What are you doing here?"

Her voice was slightly muffled by her mask as she spoke, "Playing the apprentice game again are we?"

"There are no games, no nothing. We both know nothing can be accomplished with De'Kyte here." He told her.

"This isn't about her anymore. Soon, she will no longer be a factor. I've already set her fate in stone. She will die." She amused.

"Is that so?" Ollose seemed just as entertained as Lokindr. Ollose knew she had no idea that he already had a way of his own to kill De'Kyte. Either way she was going to die. He didn't really care how it was done. Well, that wasn't true. He hoped it was slow and agonizing.

"So about this apprentice of yours-" She started.

"You better not do anything to this one!" He shot at her.

"How could I?" She asked with a false tone of innocence, "I don't even have an apprentice of my own. At least not yet... but soon."

"Who is it this time? Another senior student destined to fall at the hands of _my_ apprentice?" He asked.

"You'll see in due time." She teased.

"It really matters not. Like you said, fates has been set and in the end I will be the lone survivor." He told her, proudly.

"The way I will see it. You will be cut in two before my very eyes." She told him.

"Is that all? Is this the only reason you came here? To threaten me?" He asked with a sharp tongue.

"No." She said, "I'm here to inform you of the progress of the Sith."

This may be the only time he actually wanted to hear what she had to say, "Oh? Good news?"

"The war has further turned in our favor." She told him with a loud laugh in between, "The Republic is crumbling and better yet, the Jedi Council is no more."

"What?!" Ollose couldn't believe it, "The Jedi Council is gone?"

Lokindr turned her back to him and she about to walk away for him until she gave him one final piece of news, "A Sith armada will soon making it's move on Coruscant. The Sith will take the galaxy into it's firm, ruling grasp. If I were you I'd just hope to live long enough to see that day."


	17. Chapter 18: Insurrection

Chapter 18: Insurrection

Annoli was getting sick and tired off sitting at this same round table. They all sat in the same room where they first discussed the Jedi Council once they got to Esseles. It had since become their war room. Over a week had passed since Goullovan invaded and attacked Esseles and ever since day one after the attack, they were promised to hear word from the Republic Chancellor about the attack. However, ever since day one they had waited over an hour only to receive a message from the Chancellor's assistant saying that the Chancellor was busy and he would contact them tomorrow. Only "tomorrow" they would only received the same message. Annoli wasn't the only one getting frustrated over the ongoing circumstances. Every Jedi, Sienn, and Yaulba all had petulant looks on their faces as they all sat in their chairs and waited.

As they stared at a gray and white holo-image of an empty chair, a chair that the Chancellor should have been sitting in, a separate gray and white holo-image popped up just to the right of the chair's holo-image. This image was of a middle aged, human women. She wore a pretty dress with a decorative hood over her head. She sat in a chair of her own. She was Esseles' vice president, soon to be their full time president.

If the attack on Esseles by the Jedi Council member wasn't bad enough for the planet, their elderly president had a heart attack shorty after he received news of Goullovan's attack. Perhaps the stress was too much for him. He survived but the president decided it was time to hand the role of president over to his vice president, Ellia Tab. Vice President Tab didn't have a very patient look on her face either. Pierced lipped she addressed Sienn, "Still no word from the Chancellor?"

Sienn shook her head, "No, ma'am. I'm sure we'll be getting another message from his assistant-"

She halted her words as the holo of an empty chair suddenly flickered as Chancellor Errdict took his seat. I think everyone was surprised that he actually showed up for a change. Annoli had never met the chancellor nor even heard him speak personally, but she could already tell that she did not like this individual. Sienn was first to comment their frustration to Errdict, "Oh? I'm glad you were able to join us today."

Errdict had a nervous twitch of his face as he bowed his head to them, "I'm so sorry for the delay. I've been quite busy with many different problems. First of all, my condolences to the president of Esseles. I'm glad to here he is alright though."

Ellia stared coldly into the holo-recorder as she responded with a very doubting response, "Thank you. I'm sure you are very sincere when you say that. Esseles has had it problem lately. I'm sure you know all about it."

He rubbed his hands together and groaned, "Well... yes, yes I do. But I would like to point out I had nothing to do with that and the Jedi Council has since been disbanded."

Annoli, Zade, and the other Jedi all had mixed feelings about that when he first heard the news a week or so ago. The Jedi Council was defiantly a problem but it was not the position of Council that was to blame, it was the members. Zade looked up at the holo-image of Errdict, "Chancellor, I have to say I have trouble trusting anything you say or do. First you warrant the Jedi Council to arrest my allies and myself.-"

Errdict shrugged his shoulders, "I-I was misled by them. I was told you were traitors."

"Including the senator here?" Zade asked.

Errdict looked over to the holo-image of Sienn and smiled, "That... that was a mistake on my part. I was also misled about you. I thought you were all collaborating against the Republic. You've been proven innocent though so it doesn't matter any more now dose it?"

Zade sort of ignored Errdict and continued, "Second, I have a very big problem with you saying that you are taking control of the Jedi Order and making them a branch of the Republic army. That, to me, is inexcusable."

He laughed, "Well you see without the Council the Jedi need guidance and they need to know where they stand in the war against the Sith."

"That is not your, or the Republic's place to decide." Sienn spoke up for the Jedi.

"This is topic is a Jedi and Republic affair, is not an Esseles affair." Errdict told her.

Ellia spoke up, or maybe 'shouted' is the correct word, "It is an affair of the galaxy!You have no right to take a private group and force them into Republic service."

"I see things differently." Errdict told them, "The Jedi have been fighting with our soldiers for decades now. They can't expect to receive our protection for free can they? They need to give if they won't our assistance."

"Perhaps it is the Jedi who have been protecting us for free all these years, Chancellor." A very gravely and dark voice said over the holo-recorder's speakers.

Errdict looked around his holo-images trying to find the origin of that voice, "Who was that?"

A third holo-image blinked on next to the holo-image of Errdict. This image was of a man. Just a few years younger than middle aged and rugged looking. Annoli instantly recognized this man. Most of the galaxy knew who this man was. His stone set face which always looked cool, calm, and dead serious was his most noticeable feature. He had shoulder length, blond hair, which appeared white in color over the holo-image. He wore a thin and decorative white robe which looked odd on a muscular man like himself. His name was Rasch Mungand.

Rasch was once a high ranking General in the Republic army and a war hero. Even in the most brutal of battles he always looked for a peaceful end, or at least as peaceful as possible. Though, he wasn't a Jedi he lived by many of the same codes that the Jedi live by. Mainly, always look for the best solution and use violence as a last resort. He retired young and went into politics. Rasch is most known lately as a possible favorite among senators to take Errdict's place as Chancellor.

Errdict's attitude quickly turned bitter and angry as Rasch's image came before his face, "Ah, Rasch. I iwsh I could say I'm surprised that you decided to force yourself into this matter. But I am not, not at all."

"He is not forcing himself into anything." Sienn told Errdict with a slight hint of a smile.

Ellia explained to Errdict, "You see, after you blew us off for a week we had to turn to someone. Since I now have control over Esseles' affairs I am officially pulling our planet's support from your Republic and giving it to Mr. Mungand."

Errdict's jaw was wide open as he stared into each holo-image. He was in shock. Annoli got a slight chuckle from the pitiful sight from a pitiful Chancellor. Zade looked over to her when he heard her chuckle. At first she thought she was going to be scolded for laughing but rather Zade smiled and gave her a thumbs up underneath the table. Zade then turned his attention back to Errdict, "I have also been in contact with the Jeid Order for the first time since you and the Council tried to arrest us. Though are still many who support the fomor Jedi Council one thing is agreed by all the Jedi... The Jedi will not work for your Republic. They will not obey you. They will not do your bidding. The Jedi are not yours or the Republics. We will still aid the Republic as a private party, as long is it isn't your Republic."

Errdict shook his head and grinned, "Well... well, well. So you were plotting against the Republic after all. I was right to order your arrest."

"They have done nothing wrong." Rasch told him, "They have not been plotting anything against the Republic. Only the tyrannical reign of the Jedi Council and you, yourself. I will give you fare warning, Errdict. One week from now at the meeting of the Galactic Republic Senate... the senate will demand your resignation. The Jedi Council will be reestablished and the Jedi will be given back their true selves."

He sounded so cool when he talked. His voice was so cool and serious. Plus, he totally put Errdict in his place. Annoli had a new hero... well, after Master Borru... and Zade... and the other Jedi around her. She smiled as Errdict gritted his teeth and pounded his fist against his chair, "This... this will not end like this."

"It is already over." Sienn told him.

Errdict closed his eyes and sat there in silence. He was lost in his own thoughts for a few minuets. Everyone waited until he finally gave in and came to realization of the matter, "Very well... In one week I will step down from Chancellor. There is no need to demand anything. At least let me go out under my own terms... Let me personally resign."

Rasch gave a respective nod of the head, "Very well. You will be given the chance to step down. If you pull something underhanded in an attempt to get out it, you will removed from your position. Understood?"

Errdict nodded in agreement before switching off his holo-recorder and his image fizzled away. Annoli clapped her hands together over their seemingly victory and looked up into the image of Rasch, "So you'll be the new Chancellor?"

He looked back at the image of Annoli, "I do not know, padawan. We'll leave that up to the voters. All that matters for the moment is that we remove Quin'sallem Errdict from his position. He was a danger to everyone within the Republic."

"I and the Jedi Order can't thank you enough for your assistance." Zade told Rasch.

Rasch simply shook his head as if saying, "No Problem. The Jedi have been a foundation of peace for millenia, even when they had their own personal struggles the Jedi wished to help those who needed it. I wish to repay the Jedi in every way I can."

Sienn then addressed Rasch, "Do you think Errdict will try to do anything foolish behind the senate's back to keep his position?"

"Possibly. He still has allot of power and could use it to remain Chancellor." Rasch admitted.

Master Sarval-Styr shook his head, "No, I don't' think he will. I could sense it. He feels defeated. I believe his promise to step down on his own was genuine."

"It thats true," Master Koppler said, "Then why do I have such a bad feeling about all of this?"

"You aren't alone. I'm unsure of this as well. I do not know why though." Wennsis added.

Zade nodded, "Yes. Something dose not feel quite right about the future but I don't think it is about Errdict's resignation."

"Then what?" Koppler asked.

"That... I cannot tell." Zade said, "I think we should all be aware of the things and people around us though. I also believe that we, the Jedi should be present during this meeting of the senate."

Rasch had the slight curve on the corner of his mouth. It was probably the closet he was going to get to a smile, "Very well. I give you my word you will be allowed back into Coruscant without harm. I still have many friends in the Republic army and they have lifted your arrest warrants." He cocked one of his upper eyebrows, "Oh, and I was also told to send you an apology from the group of soldiers that accompanied Goullovan when you were first arrested."

A few of the Jedi chuckled and Zade told him, "I should be the one who apologizes to them. I'm sure it wasn't easy being bound and locked in a room with Goullovan for that long."

Rasch chuckled slightly as he said his farewell, "If that is all, I have many things to get done before the week is over."

"Thank you again." Ellia told him before Rasch's image flickered away.

Ellia then thanked them before ending her transmission too. Sienn looked back toward Zade, "So, this feeling of yours... its not good is it?"

Zade smiled weekly and shook his head, "No, not at all. That is why I think we should be their personally. To overlook the procedures. I think we should leave right away."

Annoli sighed, "Back to Coruscant? I was getting used to this place too."

* * *

________\-**V**-/________

Inside the towering building that was the Chancellor's office, Errdict sat in his throne like chair as he gazed out his large, office room window upon the Coruscant cityscape. He had to hold back tears as he thought about how this would all end. He used to own Coruscant. He used to own the Republic. He controlled the largest force of power in the galaxy and now he was losing it all.

With the realization that he was losing his authority and power he was able to look back at his tenure as Chancellor and understood how he had led the Republic into seemingly disrepair. Though, he still had trouble conceiving the thought of himself without power and would still sacrifice the galaxy if he could hold onto his position. It tore him up on the inside that he thought that way. He would sacrifice lives just to remain in power? What was wrong with him?

As he thought to himself and stared out at Coruscant, a figure walked from the shadows of the corner of the room. The figure wore the robes that Jedi Council once wore. Now these robes stood for nothing because Errdict had removed the Jedi Council from the Jedi Order.

The figure walked over to Errdict and laughed. Errdict nearly jumped out of his chair when he saw Adian Klypso, former Council member standing next to him. She had an eerily amused look on her face as she spoke through a thin lipped expression, "I was listening to your entire conversation with them, Errdict. Isn't this an ironic fate we have, Chancellor? This scene is all too familiar with me. I once fell weak and defeated as I looked out upon Corusacnt. Now you do the same. You were in control of the Republic and I was in control of the Jedi Order. You are being stripped of your power by those abominable Jedi louses."

Eddirct closed his eyes and sighed, "And that troublesome General-"

Adian ignored what Errdict said as she quickly turned toward him and pounded her fists on the armrests of his chair. She leaned over to him and met him face to face. She started into his eyes with a hellish gaze, "I was stripped of my powers by a cowardly little worm who hid behind the Jedi Council!"

Errdict snarled at her, "I never hid behind you!"

She snapped back at him, "Do you think of it a coincidence that you are being removed from power just a week after you betrayed the Jedi Council? Our Strength kept you in position!"

Errdict gave her a shove to the chest to push her away from him. He then stood up and met her dark glare with a dark glare of his own, "You're delusional! Has the Force twisted your mind beyond any reasonable thought?"

With a barbarous gleam in her eye and a slight crook of a smile she returned Errdict's shove with a Force push that sent Errdict flying back into his chair. She leaned over to him again and chuckled, "Maybe... Maybe it has twisted my mind because my intentions are quite insane... I'm calling for a Jedi insurrection against the Republic!"

Errdict was about to shout for his guards when Adian removed her lightsaber, ignited it and pierced the white blade through his chest all the way back through his chair and into the desk behind the chair. Errdict's face grew frighted as he tried to call out for help, but nothing came out. Adian laughed at his struggles, "I want... I want to show you what the Force is capable of, my dear Chancellor!"

His eyes grew wide with fear as she pulled her saber from his chest. She then took her free hand and through the Force she lifted his helpless body into the air. His body dangled in mid air as she levitated his fearful face closer to her own. Her maddened face looked peaceful in a sadistic way as she said very slowly, "Now, now... my Chancellor... I want you to experience... just a touch of the Force first hand."

"N-no... Don't..." He managed to squeak out.

"The Republic belongs to me now!" She shouted as she twisted her outstretched toward the window, causing Errdict's body jerk violently at the window. The shatterproof window was no match for Adiain's power as Errdict was sent through the glass which shattered just before the broken glass and Errdict's lifeless body fell down and outside, between the towering buildings of Coruscant. A strong gust of wind blew through the now wide open room as Adian stood at the ledge of the room looking down. Coruscant was built so high she couldn't even see the ground bellow her. She laughed as she figured that Errdcit's body was still probably falling. She smiled cruelly, "Enjoy the scenery, Errdict."

The loud noise of the glass shattering alerted the three guards outside who opened the office door and rushed into the room. They were Republic soldiers. They raised their blasters at her. The commander shouted to her, "What happened here? How did you get in here?!"

She pointed the tip of her lightsaber at them, "You are no longer needed here! Join your precious Chancellor in the depths of Coruscant!"

She then used the Force to yank their feet from underneath them and sent them flying through the space where the window once was, down after Errdict. They screamed as they were sent out the window and began falling. Adian un-ignited her saber and clipped it to her side. She then hit a button on Errdict's desk which caused the doors to close and lock from the inside. She sat down at Errdict's chair which still had a hole in it from her own saber. She pulled a holo-cam from her robe and hit a red button causing a holo-image of Cled Amousous to appear above the device. She grinned, "Errdict has been removed. On your end?"

Cled moved the device to show a new image of Rasch Mungand bound and tied to a chair. Another former Jedi Council member, Kol'Tyuk stood next to Rasch with his saber ignited. Kol'Tyuk took the very tip of his saber and ran it across Rasch's left jawline. The blade scorched and burned into his skin but Rasch never flinched. He refused to show any form or weakness to them. Adain smiled with contempt, "The current Chancellor is dead. The future Chancellor is bound by us. Rad'hyth will be here soon. Now I want you two to track down the remaining Jedi who still oppose us and cut them down."

"You'd better leave." Cled told her, "It won't be long before they realize that Errdict is dead."

"I know." She said as she flipped the image off and put the device back into her robe. She then pulled out another device from her robe and placed it on the top of the desk. This device was an explosive. She set a timer on it and then ran from the room. She would have to sneak out of the building and avoid any detection. For the moment they wanted to keep their part in the assassination a secret. In due time everyone one will learn of their plot and bow to their rule. After all, it would only be a matter of time before somebody found the crushed, carved, and lightsaber wounded body of Errdict and learn that he was killed before the explosion took place

Moments after she left the room the explosive went off and a large explosion tore through the office. Flames ripped and scorched the office leaving it unrecognizable. This was just the begging. This was just the symbol of the Jedi Council's insurrection. The Jedi had being stepped on by the Republic too long and Adian was going to make sure that, that would never happen again. The Jedi will become the superior race in the galaxy and nobody could stop them...


	18. Chapter 19: Fallen

Chapter 19: Fallen

Vayne, Lwyn, and I were in the cave like training room in Hyarsythe. The same room where Bast once taught us the ways of the mental side of the Sith. Now it was taken over by us and used as our training grounds. Vayne and I held stun sticks, which I had stolen from the arena, as we prepared for a friendly duel. Meanwhile, Lwyn was laying back against a fake boulder with her arms folded behind her head, legs crossed, and a big grin on her face. She then haughtily waved her right hand at us and spoke as if she were a noble queen, "Ah yes, my boys. A duel for your fair lady's affections. The winner shall have the lady's hand, the loser shall turn home a fraud and a sham."

Vayne and I both exchanged looks and grinned. I whispered loudly so she could still hear me, "Pssh, what a lame prize."

"Yeah." Vayne agreed, "What ever happened to the timeless prizes of a new land speeder or better yet, a lifetime supply of japuu noodles?"

Lwyn frowned at us before lifting her chin into the air, "Well, the lady is not amused."

I rolled me eyes and smiled, "Yeah whatever. Some _lady_."

She then clapped her hands together and smiled, "Alright, boys. Let the battle commence."

Vayne was about to charge me when he must have realized the first rule of battle that I helped him learn. If you can help it, never act first. So he stood there in a defensive stand, waiting for me. Since this duel was more about his learning than mine, I rewarded his remembrance of the rule by making the first attack even though it put me in a disadvantage against his defensive fighting style. I took my stun stick and swept it towards his head. With him acting as the defender, he easily read my moves and curved his own stick upwards to block my attack. He then countered by attempting to swipe his stick towards my left hip. I quickly spun to my right to avoid the blow. He didn't yield his attack though. After his swipe at my hip failed, he dropped to a single knee and tried to pierce the tip of his stick in my back. I leaned forward just in time to avoid the stab.

It was a pretty good move on his part because even if his attack missed he would be in an easy position to pull back and defend if I counter attacked. Which I did. I carried my momentum from leaning forward, dropped to the ground and rolled to my right. From my roll I slashed my stun stick outward towards the still kneeling Vayne. Him being in a solid foundation on his knee, he easily brought down his stun stick on top of mine and stopped my attack altogether. I had made a pretty bad mistake by rolling because when he brought his stick down on top of mine, my body was still rolling one way but the stun stick was stuck in it's position and it was torn from my grip. When my body stopped rolling I quickly jumped back to my feat and faced Vayne. I was unarmed. He had already picked up my dropped stick and held one in each hand. He grinned at me, "You're going easy on me aren't you? That's too bad cuz I won't return the favor."

Lwyn laughed and clapped her hands together as watched us, "Uh-oh, Laan. He's got you now."

I cocked a grin and shrugged my shoulders together, "C'mon. Don't you think you are getting ahead of yourself, big boy? It's not over until contact with the stun stick is-" before I finished my sentence I shot my left hand out and used my Force Point attack. I didn't focus it at him though. That could have been devastating on his body. Instead, I focused it on the stun stick in his right hand. The strong blast hit the stun stick and it shattered into dozens of splinters. Much of the splinter's landed on Vayne's right arm. The little poisonous barbs that coated the stun stick dug into his skin and caused it to go numb. He winced as he took a few steps back to regain himself. Through the pain he grinned at me and held up his left stun stick, "I still have the last one and that trick won't work a second time."

I took my left hand and pointed it towards the fallen splinters of the broken stun stick. I then levitated most of the splinters into the air and held them out in the air in front of me. With a grin I responded by saying, "Oh? Just because it's broken doesn't mean that it's worthless."

He looked nervous as he eyed each of the splinters. At any moment I could send them all flying into his flesh sending his entire body into a temporary but painful paralysis. He laughed half heartedly and said, "Umm... how far are you going to take this duel, Laan?"

I smiled and let the splinters drop back to the ground, "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you to the point that you can't move. I just thought I'd, you know, let you know that I could if I wanted to."

Vayne dropped his stun stick to the ground, "Ugh. Alright so if this was a real fight you could beat me. I get it."

Lwyn exhaled loudly to express her disappointment, "You're just leaving it at that?"

I looked back at her over my shoulder, "Hey, this was just practice. We can't all be as bloodthirsty as you are."

I must have said something bad because she suddenly slinked back as if I had offended her. She looked down at the ground and said something very faintly, "I'm not bloodthirsty."

That was a weird thing to say. I was fully expecting some sort of comeback but not for her to turn serious all a sudden. I walked over to her and patted my hand on her crossed feat, "I know that. It was just a joke."

She sighed, "Yeah... I know."

"Ooookay." Vayne said with a confused look on his face, "Enough of your problems, Lwyn. Laan, tell me how I did in our duel."

I gave Lwyn a reassuring look before I turned back to face Vayne, "You did pretty good. You remembered to wait and see how your opponents attacked. You were also smart to drop into a kneel. When you did that you made an attack but you also stayed in a defensive oriented stance at the same time. Plus you disarmed me. Though allot of that had to do with me holding back a little too much." I said with a small grin," All-in-all I believe you are pretty capable with a lightsaber, or lightsaber-like weapon in this case."

"But not quite as good as I am." Lwyn said with a smirk. She seemed a little less annoyed then she was just a few seconds ago.

* * *

"True." I admitted, "Out of the three of us. Lwyn is the best with a saber. But we all have our strengths. Together, with out combined efforts, we'll win this war. We're unstoppable."

* * *

* * *

---

After the duel Vayne headed back to his room to wash the paralyzing barbs from his skin. Meanwhile, Lwyn hopped off from her boulder and picked up a stun stick. She held it with a firm grip and struck it out near my neck. I didn't budge. She stopped just an inch away from hitting my neck. She frowned and squinted at me, "Why didn't you move?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I didn't sense any danger. Besides I know you wouldn't cheap shot me like that."

She threw the stun stick to the ground, "You shouldn't be so trusting."

"Oh? I shouldn't?" I asked her with an upturned eyebrow.

She backed off and hid her face behind her hair as it fell down in front of her face. With a helpless slump of her shoulders she said, "Well, you never know what some people are really like."

"If you or Vayne would have betrayed me, if that's what you are getting at, you would have done it by now. Besides, Lwyn, I know you wouldn't betray me." I said with a smile.

I walked over besides her and put my arm around her slumped shoulders, "Aww, cheer up would you? This place is dark and dreary enough without your moping around. Remember when I was down and you picked me up with just a touch of the hand and a few nice words?"

"Yes." She said.

"Well... too bad for you that I suck at that sort of thing. So you're on your own." I joked.

That got a slight chuckle to escape from her depressing attitude. She gave me a slight push to the chest to get me away from her, "Yeah. Well then what good are you then?"

I playfully slumped over and acted defeated, "Well, I guess I'm just not the ladies man I thought I was then."

She laughed and pointed her finger at me, "Yes. You are no Vayne."

I sighed overly dramatically, "What can I say? He just has that swagger. I can't compete. After all he was a farmer. Isn't that what every girl looks for in a man? A farmer?"

She smiled and looked down at the ground, "Well, not every girl, Laan."

"Oh..." I winced and smiled awkwardly, "We're not joking anymore are we? So what are we talking about now?"

She sighed and patted me on the chest. She returned to her saddened state, "No jokes. I'm... ugh, sorry."

I forced a smile on my face, "N-no need to apologize. That is if you are saying what I think you are saying... What are you saying?"

"Uh," She walked back over to her boulder and leaned her back against it, "Well, maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's the Sithrimi messing with my emotions. I don't know." She buried her head into the palm of her head in what I assumed was embarrassment.

I walked over to the boulder and leaned my back against it right next to her. I looked down at her and said, "It's true that Sithrimi can magnify some emotions. Like anger or sadness. Or happiness or caring. But they have to exist in the first hand."

"Ugh! This is embarrassing." She said with a grunt.

"What's embarrassing?" I asked, trying to get her to say exactly how she felt.

She took her head out from the palm of her hand and looked over to me, "Living by myself or with my sister for so long. It's funny how just the slightest infatuation can turn everything into pure hell."

"Ouch." I said with an amused yet hurt, wince and a smile, "I had no idea I was that bad."

She shook her head and rolled her eyes, "Not like that. It's just...I've never gotten a chance to quite feel this way about another person. I like... I liked it. But... I'm sorry."

I squinted down at her, "Liked? Wait. I'm confused."

She turned and started walking towards the exit, "So am I."

I ran over to her and grabbed her arm and yanked her to face me. Jokes were over. I could sense a deep and overwhelming struggle within her. I stared into her deep violet eyes, "Lwyn, I don't know exactly what you are fighting inside of yourself but you need to know that I'm here, always here, for you to come to. I feel the same way about you. Soo... don't hesitate."

She groaned and pushed me in the chest again. Tears were starting to form in her eyes, "That just makes this more difficult! Can't you just tell me that you don't like me? You just see me as some soldier to fight with?"

We then just stood there in an awkward amount of silence. She was starting to cry and I was starting to get a sick pit in my stomach. I had to look inside and say what I really felt. I looked away from her and said, "I could never say that about you. If I had my way, I wouldn't even have you in this mess with the Sith because you could die. If it came down to it, I would rather you live than myself."

She then just turned and walked away from me and exited into the lift. She left. We never even made eye contact after that. She just walked away and that was how we left it. Everything was said without really saying much of anything. I wasn't quite sure how to feel, other than hurt. A shallow pain shot up in my chest and through my spine. Something was very wrong and my emotions were getting the better of me.

The more I thought about it the more I thought about her. Her humor. Her brute but caring side. Her lovely eyes that caught my attention the first time I saw her. The way she was always so outgoing, boisterous, and how expressive of her opinions she was. The fact that I'm pretty sure she would have beaten me in that duel we had where Shirtless interrupted. The fact that she never would have let me live it down either. The fact that even though we haven't know each other all that long, I felt as if I knew her better than almost anybody still alive today. The fact that I felt as if I could trust her with anything. She may tease and joke about it but I could still tell her anything. Argh! It all just coming out. Once I admitted it, it just all came out. So, this was why the Jedi stayed away from the emotion called, "love". Or whatever this was. I just didn't know anymore. I actually wished that this time the Sithrimi was messing with me head because I wasn't sure that this feeling was healthy.

________\-**V**-/________

Lwyn burst into Olllose's room and threw her lightsaber down to the ground. Ollose clenched his entire body at the sight of this annoying and sudden outburst. He snarled at her, "What is the meaning of this you whelp?!"

She stood up straight and looked him defiantly in the eyes, "I've had enough of this. I won't be your spy, your lapdog, anymore. Kill me if you want but I won't betray-"

"Your _friends_?" Ollose finished for her with a thick and stained tone when he said the word, 'friends'. Ollose grumbled something under his breath before walking over to her. He looked up at her with cold and cruel eyes, "Foolish, girl. They are using you. They know of your unique talents and wish only to exploit it."

"You are the one exploiting it." She protested, "You'd kill me the second I became a threat to you. You only want to use me to give yourself power!"

"No." He said calmly, "I am not. I only wish to guide your ascent through the Sith ranks."

"You want me to kill everyone in your way so you can take control of Hyarsythe."

"So '_we_' can take control!" He said with passion, "The Sith live only to be the strongest. You have to kill, betray, lie, or even take the life of your own master to become the strongest of the Sith. You have to throw away your old life. No, you have to kill your old life. Destroy everything you once cared about or stood for. Only pain and suffering can come from the weaknesses of love for others. Just continue down this path and you will never be pained again."

"You are wrong." She told him with tears in her eyes, "They are my friends and I know they only want whats best for me. But the Sith don't care about me as an individual. They do! My friends..."

Ollose began acting impatient with her, when in reality he was ecstatic. This was where he wanted her. She was broken and damaged. With the broken pieces he could be the one to put the pieces back together in the way he saw fit. Ollose glared at her with a fury worthy of a Sith Lord, "... So now what? Do you think giving your life will save them or something? You have already given them up. You have already told me about them You have sentenced them to their execution now that I know of their plans of betrayal."

"..." Lwyn jerked back but didn't say anything. She didn't have anything to say. He was right.

Ollose laughed as he levitated Lwyn's abandoned lightsaber into his hands. He showed the lightsaber handle to her, "I'm the only one that knows of your betrayal. If you had any plans of silencing me for your own sake, you just surrendered your only tool in stopping me."

Lwyn bit down on her lower lip as more tears began to fall. She was completely defeated and could do nothing. Ollose walked over to her and stretched the hand with her lightsaber out to her. He was offering it back to her. He spoke to her in a very calm, calculating voice, "You want to die don't you? You think that if you die all will be made right by the way of your friends. But that is a lie. You are just lying to yourself. You know that they are doomed and you just want to die so you don't have to witness their downfall. Or take part in it."

She dropped to her knees and began to weep. Ollose placed his empty hand on her shoulder and offered her saber back to her once again. He spoke with a kind voice, "Lwyn is dead. That is what you wanted. She is gone. You killed her the moment you accepted my offer to become my apprentice. Now I could take this saber and strike down the shell that Lwyn once was. Or I could take that shell and give it a new purpose. A servant of the Sith. Now girl, do you want your death to be nothing more than a waste of everyone's efforts or do you want a rebirth into greatness?"

"I want... my friends... to be safe." She struggled to say through her tears.

He thought he had her. She was going to be his puppet but with those words he knew his grip wasn't as tight as he once thought. Realizing this he lost control of himself and shouted down at her, "They will die! You did that to them! You can't take it back!"

"No!" She shouted as she reached for her lightsaber from him to strike him down and stop him from killing her friends. But Ollose was ready. He yanked her saber away from her and ignited his own lightsaber. He sliced her lightsaber into two pieces and threw the remains of her lightsaber at her feat.

He then pointed the tip of his saber at her heart, "Don't be a fool. Make your life worth something!"

She couldn't kill him and save her friends. But she could warn her friends. She jumped to her feat and dashed for the door. Ollose howled as he raised his saber into the air, ready to throw it at Lwyn and pierce her in the back. Lwyn reached the doors and they opened. Ollose reached back, ready to throw his lightsaber like a javelin... but they both stopped the moment the doors slid open. Everything seemed to stop. Lwyn nearly fell to her knees at the sight beyond the door. Standing before Lwyn was Phyress Lokindr... and next to her stood Laan.

Lwyn stared at Laan with a sudden blank expression and lack of emotion. Her face turned pale as Laan glared at her. His eyes looked angered and wrathful. He loomed over her like a storm cloud in the sky. He clenched his fists and frowned, "What are you doing here, Lwyn? Why are you here with him?"

Phyress chuckled, "It was as I told you, my boy. She is a deceitful little harlot who turned you over for the smallest chance to further her own selfish goals." She then looked back to Ollose and smiled, "And I do mean 'little'."

Lwyn could barley move. She could barley speak. Ollose on the other hand switched his lightsaber off and walked over to them. Perhaps he found a second chance to turn Lwyn. And it seemed that Phyress was the one to thank for this second chance. Ollose matched Phyress' smile with one of his own. He locked eyes with her and never looked away even when he addressed Laan, "You see boy, your trust was misguided. She has told me everything about you."

"Everything?" Laan repeated as he glared at Lwyn.

Lwyn looked away from him and whimpered, "I..."

"You've killed us!" Laan shouted at her, "You killed Vayne! You killed me!... This is what you were talking about earlier? I shouldn't trust you?! I can't believe you did this!"

"I'm sorry." She sad softly.

"Sorry? Sorry?!" He shouted even louder. He unleashed a tirade brought on by anger and fear. And when Lwyn made her weak apology he snapped. He reached out and grabbed her by the throat and gripped it hard. Their was no Force being used. This was just Laan using the muscles in his body. His eyes grew pink form holding back tears of his own as Lwyn struggled for breath, "You were able kill us so easily when you stabbed us in the back. It would be just as easy for me to kill you right now."

Lwyn didn't fight back but she did gasp for air. Phyress smiled at the sight and Ollose looked concerned that his apprentice was defenseless. That Laan could kill her and Ollose would be be without an ally. But that moment never came as Laan released his grip on her throat. Lwyn gasped and held her throat where he had grabbed her. He clenched his jaw as he said spitefully to her, "I hope you do well for the Sith. I hope it was all worth it for you as Vayne and I are tortured and executed."

Phyress frowned and placed her hand on Laan's shoulder, "Come now, boy."

"Yeah, whatever." Laan said, overcome and defeated.

Phyress began walking down the hallway outside of Ollose's room. Lann turned his back to Lwyn and began to fallow after her. Ready to face whatever Phyress had for him. Lwyn was at a lose for words but managed to once again call out, "I'm sorry."

Laan didn't respond. He just walked off without even acknowledging her. Lwyn was left there in the doorway with Ollose. She stared down at the ground with a heavy heart. This was ogirnaly the goal when she first aligned herself with Ollose, but it wasn't supposed to be this hard for her. The feelings she had expressed to Laan were true but that didn't matter as she had betrayed him and Vayne. Ollose seeing an opportunity extended his hand to her once again. This time offering her his own lightsaber. This one wasn't one of those cheep factory made sabers that the students were given, this one was master crafted by Ollose's hands. He smiled gleefully, "It is done and over. You were alive to see it happen. Now the choice is yours. Do you truly wish to die? If you do so, your friend's deaths will be for nothing. Or do you want to accept things as they truly are and begin anew. At least their deaths will have had meaning lived out through you."

As she stood, slumped back against the wall she stared down at his lightsaber. This time she didn't refuse it outright. But gave it thought. She reached her hand out and kept her hand hovered above the saber but did not take it. If she took it she was accepting her role as a true Sith. If she took her hand away she would be refusing the Sith and would executed along with Laan and Vayne. Weighing her options she made her choice and moved her hand towards the direction she was taking her life...

* * *

________\-**V**-/________

Laan sat on his knees, head held low and eyes closed in meditation in the center of Phyress Lokindr's dark and evil room. He tried to calm himself and face Lokindr as an agent of the Force and not an enraged monster taken over by his emotions. But it was too difficult. He could only think back to the moment when he was standing in Hyarsythe's training room after his mock duel with Vayne. Lwyn had confessed feelings for him before leaving him aloe in that room. Then, from the shadows of a stack of boulders, Lokindr emerged behind him. She said to him, "Did you really think you can trust them?"

The feeling he got when he knew the three of them had been found out by Lokinr. The feeling he got when Phyress told him of Lwyn's betrayal. He didn't believe her at first. Lwyn wouldn't do that. But then she took him to Ollose's room and when the door's opened his spirits fell. Seeing Lwyn come from his room was a stab to his heart. She didn't even deny her involvement. If she had, he may have even believed her because he wanted to so much. But all she could say was, 'sorry'. Lokindr spoke the truth about Lwyn. Now he sat here before Phyress waiting for his sentence to be passed. Vayne would be next. Laan wasn't going to go down easily though. He came first came here to Hyarsythe to eliminate Phyress and he was going to do so in a fight or die trying.

Phyress on the other hand sat in her throne with a wide and knowing smile. She looked down at him and knew he was clay in her hands. The moment Laan knew of Lwyn's betrayal, Phyress and the Sithrimi had taken a hold of Laan's emotions. He was helpless. She folded her hands together under her chin and spoke with him, "What were you thinking? Trying to came here and destroy from Hyarsythe the inside?"

Laan just sat their in silence. He tried to remain calm. He didn't want to snap like he did when he attacked Lwyn. For the moment Phyress let him stay calm. But at any moment she could manipulate his emotions through the Sithrimi like the strings of a puppet. She continued her questioning, "How do you think you were going to leave here alive? How could you put your trust in those two Sith students when you were originally aiming to kill them."

"They were... they were victims." Laan finally said, "They were only students because they didn't know what they had gotten themselves into. The Sith manipulated Vayne and Lwyn into joining you."

"You had no idea what you had gotten yourself into." She countered with a sly smirk.

"..." Laan was silent.

"How could you be so foolish?" She asked.

"I don't regret putting my trust in them. Lwyn may have betrayed me but Vayne didn't. I proved that Sith don't have total control."

She laughed, "Oh? Is that so? You think he wouldn't have done the same thing if not given the same position as the girl?"

"No."

"Hmm...well maybe you are right." She said mockingly, "But that wasn't the foolishness I was referring to. I was referring to you thinking that all those times you gathered with them and began your counter training in my Hyarsythe.... you thought I hadn't noticed. Did you really think I couldn't tell what you three were doing in my own palace?"

Laan git his teeth and lowered his head, "...I-"

"Did you really think I didn't know your true intentions for being here from the first day you arrived?" She spat.

Laan looked up at her and asked woefully, "You knew?"

"From the moment I gave you your final test and I jumped into your mind. I saw it all. When the Jedi turned their back on you. When you killed Darth Vultous. When you stole my ship and tricked your way onto Hyarsythe. I saw it all. Ever since I entered your mind I was connected to you like no other student. You have great power. Untapped power, but great. For whatever reason your power effected the Sithrimi like no one ever has. The two of us were strung together by the Sithrimi. When you fought, I could feel your passion. When you interacted with your allies I could feel your kinship. And when you fought your foes I could feel your hatred."

Laan sunk his head into his hands. He never stood a chance. He let tears of sorrow and defeat flow. He looked up at her and asked, "Then... why didn't you kill me from the first day?"

"For the same reason I have yet to kill you at this very moment. I knew that you would eventually fall and I would be there to catch you."

"You want me to make me one of you?" He asked with a shrill chuckle.

She smiled, "No. I don't want to make you _one of us_. You already are. You just haven't noticed yet."

"What?"

"How many students have you killed here? Those lightsabers on your sides should tell you."

Laan looked down at his lightsabers he had collected from students he had slain during duels. He carried four with him, strapped to his belt. But he had even more in his room. He only carried four with him at a time. Laan reluctantly whispered, "I have nine."

"I couldn't hear you!" She said loudly.

"Nine!" He shouted in response.

"Why were Vayne and Lwyn so special that you saved them but killed the others without remorse?"

"Without remorse?" He shouted, "I had nightmares about the lives I took! But I had to. They were to long gone. They were beyond saving."

"I know. I saw them." She chortled, "Those dreams weren't of remorse they were of triumph. You enjoyed slaying them because that one student may be that one student that someday may become a Sith Lord. That was your reasoning for killing them. That was why you came here. You came here to drown Hyarsythe and everyone inside of it in the Apsus oceans. You wanted to kill all of us. And then to satisfy the half of you that was once a Jedi, you thought that if you saved a life or two it would justify the lives your were going to take. That was why you allied yourself with those two, not for them. You did it to satisfy your own selfish illusions of grandeur. You wanted to be the hero who destroyed the Sith base and throw it back in the Jedi's faces. You wanted revenge and glory!"

"No, I didn't!" Laan grunted.

Phyress was speaking both truths and lies but with Laan's state of mind he couldn't tell which was which. That was also due in part to Phyress' hold of Laan's mind and heart. Phyress stood up and walked towards him. With each step she spoke with added emphasis, "You kill... for your own gain... You criticize the Sith... for doing the same exact thing... Admit what you are... You-are-Sith."

Laan clenched his fists so hard the nails in his fingers dug into his palms and blood was drawn. He wanted to fight back but couldn't. He shook his head and tried to speak, but could say nothing. Phyress placed her hand on the top of Laan's head. She pet his head like a dog, "It wasn't Lwyn who betrayed you. You betrayed her when you used her as a tool for your own selfish reasons. All she did was match your manipulation with her own!"

Laan reached for one of his lightsabers and ignited the crimson blade. He pointed towards it towards her but she didn't move. She let him strike at her without a single movement to defend herself. Laan's blade reached her neck where it singed into her flesh. She still didn't move. Laan stopped his strike there. He stopped at only a cut in her neck. She scolded him, "Why stop? Still lying to yourself? Are you still telling the Jedi in you not to strike down a defenseless opponent?"

"You are far from defenseless." He shot at her.

"Then why the hesitation?" She said through the burning pain in her neck. Pain was nothing to her.

Laan removed the saber from her neck and held it tight to his side. He asked her again, "Why? Why didn't you kill me? And no more of this, 'because I knew you'd fall' load!"

"Because you and I are the same. Not just the connection we share through the Sithrimi but because we were both hurt by the Jedi. The Jedi wounded me greatly and I found my healing with the Sith. I want to help you find the same salve. I will admit the Sith are harsh and life is much more... complicated from a certain point of view. But it does not come without it's rewards. The power you feel and hold it a greater felling than any lover or friend. You think the pursuit of power is the cause of evil because that is what the Jedi teach. You need to let go of those teachings because they are flawed. I know, that you know the Jedi' teachings are flawed. You've thought so ever since they cast you out. I also know that you think me a monster because of the way I act around others but can you blame me? Vedalt'e, Bast, De'Kyte, you hate them just as much as I do. We are both cold to them because we can't trust them."

She then ran her hand down his head and placed it gently on his cheek. She pulled his head up into a stare with her, "Search your feelings to find truth in these words, 'you can trust me'. Put your faith in me. The reason I haven't, nor will I ever kill you is because I see you as myself. A poor soul cast out by the Jedi. Who just needs some proper guidance. De'Kyte was right about one thing. I lost my touch with the Force because all I come across is useless student after useless student. You are the exception. I need you just as much as you need me. Please, Laan... join me."

---V---

Bast was sitting in his meditation room on his knees with his hands folded on his lap. With his mind open he reached out to the dark side. Through the Sithrimi, Bast could feel an build up in the Force. There was a tension growing tighter and tighter and it was going to snap very very soon. Bast could feel it.

---V---

General De'Kyte was standing among a collection of Sith troopers at the train station to take troops and others back up to the surface. She stood there talking with the commander of her troops, "After we leave we'll meet up with he armada and join in on the attack. At worst we'll be a second wave. The Jedi are finished and the Republic is defenseless. We take Coruscant in a week."

The Troop commander chuckled under his helmet, "Who'da thought that the enemies of the Jedi would be their own, precious Republic? Fools."

"You are leaving us?" A voice asked form behind De'Kyte.

She turned around and saw Lokindr walking towards them on the platform. De'Kyte smiled with great arrogance, "I'm afraid I won't be able to stay here and watch over your base for you. At least not for awhile. I've new orders. The Jedi Council has been abolished and the Republic is weakened. We will attack Coruscant now while they are in disarray. You remain here and continue on with your little... project. Enjoy it while you can because my report will suggest you be completely removed from Hyarsythe by the time I return here. You are useless to the Sith."

Lokindr returned her comment with a wide, knowing, and calculating smile...

---V---

As Bast was meditating he called out to the shadows around his meditation room, "You diiidn't think you cooould hide v'rom (from) me... did youuu?"

Ollose came strutting from the shadows of Bast's room with a large grin on his face, "I never intended on hiding."

"..." Bast ignored Ollsoe for a few moments before getting to his feat. Bast grumbled towards Ollose, "What are yooou doing here?"

"I'm sure you've heard the news. They are attacking Coruscant, and without us too." Ollose cursed, "How can they not include us on the attack? This is the changing flow in the war! And we aren't a part of it!"

"It is becuassse they v'ind (find) us weak. Due to Lokindr'sss incompeteeent rule."

"They do find us weak don't they...? Well I think its time I changed that." Ollose said with an evil grimace.

"What are you plaaaning?" Bast asked, concerned about how far Ollose was willing to go.

"My plans... are my own, Bast. You don't need to know because you are just an obstacle to me." Ollose said as he placed his hand on the hilt of his lightsaber.

Bast quickly grabbed his lightsaber from his side and gripped it in his squid-like hands, "You are a v'ool (fool) to think you can kill me and myyy apprentice. I'v (if) you strike one o'v us down, the other willlll kill you too."

Ollose smiled so greatly, his jagged teeth glistened in the room's candlelight. He then removed his hand from the hilt of his own lightsaber, "Apprentice? You mean the other twin? I'm afraid she was met with a terrible, terrible accident in the hall. At least... she didn't feel anything. Unlike her own twin did."

---V---

"Your_ report_ you say?" Lokindr asked as if she didn't understand the meaning of the word, 'report'.

"The Sith will win this war in only a few more weeks and you won't be part of it. I'll make sure of that." De'kyte said, testing Lokindr's patience.

Lokindr now had a mischievous smile set across her face,"You must be careful, De'Kyte, as you leave Apsus. Apsus storms can be... deadly. A strike of lightning in Apsus is strong enough to break through a small craft's shields and then... boom." Lokindr warned as she gestured an explosion with her hands.

De'Kyte put her hands on her hips and raised an irked eyebrow, "Is that a warning or a threat?"

Lokindr didn't answer her question directly. Instead she went on, "You're ship could be destroyed instantly and what remained would fall into the oceans. Lost forever in the deep, deep depths."

De'Kyte laughed in her face, "Your words are harsh and threatening but they are empty. Empty words. The Dark Lord of the Sith ordered me here. Killing me would be an act of direct defiance against the Sith. And they would never fall for such a ridiculous story as a freak lightning strike."

"I believe your orders where to come here and weed out the week from the strong. Well I've finished that job for you. I have found the strong and will soon report this to the Dark Lord. Your job is over. You, De'Lia De'Kyte are the one who is useless to the Sith now." Lokindr said with a cackle.

De'Kyte's demeanor broke from overconfident to nearly hysterical. She screeched at Lokindr, "I am a Sith General. My orders are to lead the armada to Coruscant!"

"Not anymore you aren't." Lokindr said with confidence.

De'Kyte backed away from Lokidnr. She was worried. She sensed malice from Lokindr and she cowered from it. She turned towards her troops, "Enough of this. Fire to kill..."

But as she turned to face her soldiers she saw only carnage. Her troops lay dead and scattered at her feat. Fresh lightsaber wounds marked the bodies in areas that indicated quick and instant kills. The troops never felt it. They never knew the strike when it came. The only one still standing before her was a man with an ignited, crimson lightsaber. He wore a black body suit over his torso and a black, half robe over his lower body. A black veil was wrapped around his head and only his gray eyes shown through. De'Kyte reached her hands towards her holstered blaster but she never reached it. Instead the student's crimson saber cut her in two, along the shoulders and in one quick, fluid swipe. De'Kyte let out a silent gasp as her eyes looked into her attacker's eyes... just before her own fell cold and lifeless.

---V---

Bast snarled at Ollose, "It dossen't matter. I can ssstill kill you on my own. I don't need aaan apprentice."

Ollose put his hands up into the air, innocently, "I never said that _I_ wanted to kill you. Why get my hands dirty with your dirty little stain?"

Bast ignited his crimson blade and held out in front of him, "I'v (if) you won't kill me theeen striking you down will beee all the easierrrr."

"I never hid myself from you... but _I_ never had to." Ollose said with a chuckle.

"I-" Bast began to say. but as soon as he began he felt a sudden threat in the Force. But he sensed it too late. A second red saber blade pierced a hole through Bast's chest from behind him. He let out a gurgling groan of pain. Ollose watched on with his arms behind his head. He was laid back, enjoying what he saw. As a last effort Bast dropped his own lightsaber and raised his hands towards Ollose. Ollose grew a look of sudden concern as Bast welled up what power remained in his body and sent it through his hands as he summoned dark lightning.

Ollose grimaced, "Uhh-oh!"

Before the lightning left Bast's hands, a hand came from the shadows behind Bast. The hand grabbed onto the front of Bast's neck and yanked it back as added leverage to thrust the lightsaber blade further upwards in Bast's already mortally wounded chest. This added thrust caused the wound to open further and caused Bast to loose consciousness. Bast's body fell limp and the powered lightning stored in his hands harmlessly discharged into the ground. Ollose's concern left him at the sight of Bast's lifeless body. He laughed confidently, "Bast ol' fellow, you almost gave me a scare there. I almost underestimated you."

The lightsaber guilty of the assassination switched off and the culprit walked from the shadows. The dim light shined on to the assassin's black and violet hair, violet eyes, and female form... Lwyn. Her eyes looked shallow and distant. The body language of her posture was grim. She stared down at bast's body and sighed deeply, "I'm sorry I made it such a close encounter, master."

Ollose joyfully threw out his hands out to his sides, "No worries, girl! Without that unique gift of your to hide yourself from the Force it would have been much, much more... messy."

"Now what?" She asked, still staring blankly at Bast.

Ollose was still chuckling over his victory, "We wait. I know Lokindr's next move and we'll have to be cautious. We had the element of surprise with us here, but we won't have it for our next move. Come now, girl."

Lwyn clipped her lightsaber to her side and fallowed Ollose as he began to exit the room. With every step the stress of the past few events of her life weighed down on her but she persevered through. She had to keep telling herself that was her old life. Ollose told her that Lwyn was dead. Lwyn's memories were now foreign to this new persona. The new name Ollose had given her was 'Zecarpse'. Zecarpse was a mythological goddess of shadows from Ollose's home planet. Zecarpse was her new life, her new identity.

---V---

Lokindr smiled ever so slightly as she stood above the remnants of General De'Lia De'Kyte. She stared down and into De'Kyte's open but lifeless eyes. There was no victory celebration but there was definitely a small amount of glee and relief shown on her face. When she was satisfied she broke away from De'Kyte's dead gaze and towards the veiled student. She smiled and tilted her head mischievously to the side, "And how is this all sitting with you, Laan?"

Laan, the veiled attacker, extinguished his lightsaber and clipped it to his side over his half robe. This lightsaber joined three other lightsabers clipped to the robe. Laan looked around him, at De'Kyte and then at her fallen troops. He spook to her in his regular, unchanged, and unfazed voice, "... I've taken life in defense of myself and of others before but this was the first time I killed like this. I've told myself many times before that those kills that I made in the past were justified. Self defense. Or to protect others. I thought that this would feel differently. To kill when I didn't need to. But if I think hard enough I can impose a justification for any kill just like I did with all the others. This... is no different. It all feels exactly the same. You were right..."

She slowly and almost mockingly clapped her hands together, "A quick turnaround, I must say. Perhaps the ties that bound you to the Jedi where thinner than I first thought. You have taken your first true step towards the dark side of the Force."

Laan flicked his head as if a pestering insect was in front of his face, "My ties to the Jedi... were severed by them. Not me. Don't get me wrong, Lokindr... sorry... Master. I'm no Jedi but I'm not a Sith either. I just want to grow stronger. I don't believe in a light or dark side. They are only limitations set in place by the Jedi and Sith. I've learned from the Jedi and now I will learn form the Sith. I will not limit my powers to light or dark."

She crowed, "Ah yes. Well we'll just see where your training takes you. You'll see it my way. In time."

Laan cocked his head to the side and chuckled, "Yeah. I guess we'll have to see... Master."

"Something tells me you are going to be quite a different experience from my past apprentices." She said with a hint of amusement. She then snapped her fingers at Laan, "Laan, let's go. We need to make our report over the General's unfortunate accident."

"What shall you have me do with the bodies?" He asked her.

"They'll be feed for my pets. I'll have my own troops do it." She responded with a hushed cackle.

Lokindr began walking away but Laan remained behind for just a moment longer. He leaned over De'Kyte's body and placed his hand near her utility belt. Laan may have lost himself in darkness but he was still the same buff of technology as ever. He removed De'Kyte's datapad from her belt. He snickered under his veil, "I suppose you really won't be needing this anymore, General."

He tucked away the datapad under his robe. As he was leaning over his wolf necklace from Lanoul fell forward out his shirt. It danged in his sights from the chain. He sighed deeply as he tucking it back under his shirt before following after his new Master.

It was true. Laan had given himself to Lokindr and accepted an apprenticeship. With the loss of his allies he was forced to turn to his own power. Power he had yet to tap into. Lokidnr's goals for him were far from his own but Laan knew he could learn from her. Lokindr felt that even though he was defiant towards her now, he would lose himself in darkness. The dark side was impossible to resist once one has had a taste and Laan seemed to have had quite a taste...


	19. Chapter 20: Lords and Masters

Chapter 20: Lords and Masters.

Hyarsythe, sixth floor. Communication room. A gray, humanoid-shaped maintenance droid was standing in front of a large computer and screen displaying a holographic image of Hyarsythe from the tip of the base sticking out of the oceans, to the large base deep bellow the seas. The doors to the room slid open from behind the droid. It turned to see the fiendish Lokindr and her now unveiled apprentice, Laan walking towards it. The droid bowed its head to Lokidnr, "Welcome, my lord. May I be of any assistance to you?"

Lokindr respond coldly, "Set up a relay with the 'head'."

The 'Head' being another name for the tip of base. Due to Hyarsythe being so deep underwater, any form of communications being sent anywhere outside of Hyarsythe had to first be sent the Head and then sent from there. While Lokindr was getting the droid to do her work for her, Laan broke away towards a group of smaller computers. He ran his right hand over the top of them. It had been awhile since he had been in contact with this type of technology. He missed it.

After a few moments the droid got in contact with the Head. A Sith Trooper's image was shown on the screen. When the Trooper saw Loknidr he bowed his head to her, "My lord."

"Put me in touch with the Risa'Griez Citadel." She commanded the troop, "Tell them that Phyress Lokindr has a message for the _Dark Lord_."

"Yes, my lord." The trooper said without hesitation.

As Lokindr waited she looked for Laan. She saw him next to some computers. She impatiently scolded, "Get over here, child."

Laan grumbled under his breath as she left his computers and joined Lokindr. He stood shoulder to shoulder with her. He gazed deeply at the image on screen of the troops up at the 'Head' scampering around trying to send a message as quickly as possible. Lokindr noticed and asked him, "Why so interested in the work of the peons?"

Laan shrugged his shoulders, "If it was me up there, I could have sent the message by now."

She smiled, "I'm sure you could have."

While they were still waiting Laan asked, "What's this Citadel you mentioned?"

"Later." She told him.

Laan grumbled impatiently, "Figures."

A moment later the image on the screen flickered and went black. Then an image a Sith Trooper appeared again. Only this one was sitting on the deck of some ship. Behind him there were more troopers and pilots at individual stations working. The trooper spoke to Lokindr, "The Dark Lord wishes to know the reason for your communication."

Lokindr's upper lip curled into a slight snarl, "The Dark Lord sends a meek solider to speak with me? The nerve!"

The trooper was unfazed by Lokindr's words, "Perhaps you are unaware of our position? We are assembling an armada to take Coruscant. The Dark Lord can't concern them self with just anyone who wants to speak with them."

It was pretty bad when a lone trooper held more authority then Phyress. Laan wondered if he was wrong aligning himself with her. Lokindr then demanded, "You will put me in touch with them now! What I have to say doesn't concern the likes of you."

The trooper remained silent for awhile before telling her again, "The Dark Lord wishes to know the reason for your communication."

Laan rolled his eyes and rubbed his forehead, "This is becoming painful." He then decided to stop the bleeding and addressed the trooper himself, "My Master has the sad duty on informing the Dark Lord of General De'Kyte's passing and the direct effect of her passing on Hyarsythe."

Lokindr turned her head and glared at Laan. She wasn't at all pleased with him. The trooper's helmet covered his face but it was obvious that he must have had a smile on his face underneath over Laan's interruption. He then spoke to Lokidnr, "Very well. The Lord will speak with you."

Lokindr turned back to the screen as she regained her composure, "Good then."

The screen went black momentarily before the image switched to an image of a wall covered in a long sheet of cloth. The cloth slowly fluttered as a gust of wind went past it. The gust was caused by a massive form that walked into the center image. Phyress watched with wide eyes, Laan's jaw was open slightly at the sight. A massive male Togorian stood there clad in black leathers around his torso, waist, arms, and legs. Togorians are a large feline species commonly built as proud and honorable warriors. This one must have stood over three meters. The fur that covered his body was ash gray with black streaks around the more prominent parts of his face and arms. Including a black and silver mane that fell around the back and side of his tiger-like face. Nothing however, was more prominent than his jade green eyes which were gray in color over the image. Even through the screen they looked like an angry, endless vortex of whites and grays.

Lokindr, nor Laan for that matter had ever seen the Dark Lord. They had never known his true gender, species, or appearance before now. He had been rather secretive of his identify before now and neither of them actually expected to see him today. They were both expecting to see an empty image with nothing more than a voice. This had caught them both off guard to find this beastly monster of a figure standing before them. The mere sight of him made them feel uneasy and unsettled. The Togorian folded his arms over his chest and spoke with a menacingly calm voice, "Phyress Lokindr."

She bowed her head to him, as did Laan. She then looked back up with a hint of fear in her eyes, "M-my Lord. I was not expecting to see you like this."

He continued to stare into her eyes through he image, "Report."

"Ah, yes." She pasued a moment to gather herself, "I am here before to report that General De'Kyte has passed on."

"I'm sure you aren't going to report to me that this was some type of accident. Was it?" He asked her calmly.

So much for Lokidnr's week lightning storm story. Realizing a lie wouldn't pass she confessed to him, "No. From what De'Kyte was saying, you sent her to Hyarsythe to remove the week and find the strong. I believe I have found the one student worthy to the Sith. This student besides me, Ceddes... erm... Laan. He is the one who has slain the General. By my orders. He is my new apprentice and far superior from any other student here or any other academy. His connection to the Force is beyond anything that I've ever witnessed."

The Togorian chuckled to himself, "I ordered? Ah, I see. You believe me to be the Dark Lord, do you?"

Laan raised an intrigued eyebrow and spoke out of turn, "You aren't?"

"No." He said with an amused smile, "You can call me Darth Carnivis. The hand chosenapprentice."

"Everyone seems to have an apprentice." Laan said under his breath.

Lokindr seemed a little annoyed but tried to remain calm, "I see. And your Master?"

Darth Carnivis sighed, "My Master is in this room, away from your sight. I'll be acting as the mouthpiece."

Phyress was becoming further annoyed, "May I at least know the name to the individual whom all Sith are serving?"

Carnivis looked away from the screen to another part of the room where the true Dark Lord was undoubtedly watching from. After a moment Carnivis looked back at the screen, "You may call my Master only by the title, Darth Rajjor."

"Darth Rajjor." She repeated, "And why does Darth Rajjor hide themselves from us?"

"Because you are unworthy." Carnivis barked at her. He then looked over to Laan and sized him up, "Who are you to slay a Sith General?"

"I've slain worse then Generals." Laan said with an arrogant grin. He was referring to Darth Vultous.

Lokidnr gave Laan a harsh look and whispered over to him, "Now is not the time for that."

Laan just shrugged his shoulders and apologized, "Forgive me, Darth Carnivis. If punishment is due, I will take equal or greater punishment than my Master. Unless that punishment is execution. Then I won't go down without a fight."

Carnivis seemed amused, "I see."

Phyress folded her hands together, "Punishment I'm sure won't be in order. I did the Sith a favor. She has no connection to the Force and never should have been sent here."

"Are you questioning my Master's order to send her to Hyarsythe?" Carnivis asked with an angered voice.

Lokindr repelled herself and lowered her head. She had to fight herself not to lash out in anger. She felt as if she was being treated like a child. Being scolded by a superior in rank. She wanted them all dead. Lokindr gathered herself enough to say, "I just don't see the reasoning of it."

Carnivis looked off screen as his Master said something to him that couldn't be heard by Phyress or Laan. He looked back to the screen as he told her, "And what of your new student? If he truly is as capable as you preach him to be, then wasn't this all for the best? If not for De'Kyte would you have found this boy?" Lokidnr opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Carnivis, "No. You wouldn't have. Because you were the inept individual. Not the former General."

"Are you saying this was the plan all along? You sacrificed Genral De'Kyte knowing she'd perish. To find the strongest student here?!" Lokindr yelled, letting her emotions show.

Carnivis was unaffected by Lokindr's yelling, "The idea wasn't so specific as you make it out to be. The idea was simply to throw the strict General into the fire with the foolishness you've created in Hyarsythe. Let the chaos begin and see who came out on top. Simple as that. General De'Kyte was a fine General but her sacrifice was for the great cause."

Laan had to cover his mouth with his right fist to hide a small smile. He could appreciate the plan Darth Rajjor had. Lokindr on the other hand was furious but she continued to hold as much of it in as possible. After a few moments of silence she finally acknowledged what was going on, "I see then. You find me week and incapable of Hyarsythe. I ask for... a second chance then. Now that De'Kyte is gone give me a chance to regain Hyarsythe's fallen glory."

Carnivis waited as his Master was telling him what to say. Carnivis finally answered her plea, "Very well. Hyarsythe would just be destroyed anyways because it's no longer worth our efforts. Keep in mind that my Master rarely gives second chances. If you fail this time death will be too generous for you... and fun for me. Personally, I hope you fail."

The screen then fizzled away as the transmission was cut from the other end. Phyress snarled at the blank screen and clenched her hands into fists. Laan rolled his eyes and sighed. Phyress snapped at Laan for his actions, "What was that?!"

Laan looked into her eyes and said flatly, "I just wonder if I placed my bet on the wrong swoop racer. Throughout that entire conversation they didn't even trust you enough to mention this massive invasion of Coruscant to us. The only reason they are keeping you around is because of me. You were right. You do need me as much as I need you. Maybe more."

She wasn't going to take that from him. She removed her lightsaber and ignited the red blade. She held the ruby blade up to Laan's neck. She sneered at him, "How dare you talk to me like that. I am _your_ Master. You will get on your knees and beg _my_ forgiveness."

Laan smiled slightly as he dropped to a knee and bowed his heads to her. He only wanted her to start acting as a leader and it took him to berate her to do so. He said softly, "Forgive my harsh words. I was out of line."

She switched off her saber and looked down at him, "Hmph. Get to your feat." Laan stood up and Phyress smiled. All of her anger seemed to vanish when she felt she was back in power over someone. "Well then. I think it's time I take Hyarsythe back."

"May I ask you what you've done with my old ally, Ty'Vayne." Laan asked as he brushed off his pants from kneeling on the ground.

A smile smile crept across her face, "He is currently being held captive in his room. I've been keeping him... for you. I leave his fate in your hands."

Laan smiled, "Well then. If you want to take Hyarsythe back, perhaps a demonstration of power from your highest pupil is in order?"

________\-**V**-/________

After De'Ktye's rule change the population of students in Hyarsythe was down to a fifth the number that there were before the General arrived. This fact was driven home in the Arena. A sudden Arena Day was called by Phyress and all were ordered to attend. Including Ollose and Lwyn who were standing off in the shadows, away from the bleacher seats. It used to be that the students would completely fill the bleachers and were assigned seating by rank. Now they just sat scattered wherever they will due to the lack of a crowd. Noticeably absent was Bast and his apprentice, Moyi. Neither had been seen in days and everyone knew that either Ollose or Phyress were responsible. Phyress knew it wasn't her so she could only assume it was Ollose.

Phyress sat at her usual place, a throne placed outside the Arena's fighting ground. She was wearing a long black gown and an iron helmet that hid all of her face, save her right eye. Unlike the Arena Days of past, Laan now stood besides her instead of the former twin apprentices. Laan had an amused smile on his face as he saw Lwyn standing in the shadows across the arena grounds. Her face was hidden in the shadows but Laan guessed she had a scowl on her pretty little face.

Phyress noticed Ollose and Lwyn as well and said to Laan, "Make it a show worthy of remembrance, will you?"

"Of course, Master." Laan responded as he walked away from her throne and onto the fighting grounds. He had been here before but this seemed like a completely new experience to him. Now all eyes were on him. Everyone looking on with envy of him. They wanted to be in his position as Lokindr's second. All expect for Lwyn.

Looking over at Lwyn's silhouette Laan removed one of his four lightsabers and twirled it around his hands. This signaled to a group of Sith Troopers in an entryway to bring in another student with a hood over their head and binders on it's wrists. They dragged the student into the center of the fighting ground, just a couple of meters away form Laan. Phyress clapped her hands to the troopers, "Remove the binders."

One trooper took off the restraining binders from the student's wrists as another slid the hood off it's head. Laan had a grim smile on his face at the sight of Vayne's revealed face. His face was swollen and discolored. He was either tortured at some point or he gave some of the troopers a fight. Laan's guess was both. Vayne's unblinking eyes gazed on at Laan. He shook his head in disbelief, "They told me about you, Laan. I didn't believe them until now. It was so easy for you wasn't it? To just turn your back on us."

Laan pointed at himself, "Me? I wasn't the one who betrayed you." He then looked over to Lwyn, "She did." Then back to Vayne, "We were both sentenced to death the moment she gave us up. I just found a reprieve. I'm sorry you couldn't find one for yourself. This is just how things are. My goals are the same but... I'm sorry. I just can't keep our vow."

Vayne looked around the Arena and sighed, "So now I die by your hand? A public execution?"

"You'll be given a fighting chance. Kill me and you will take my place." Laan promised.

"Oh great." Vayne said sarcastically, "No thanks. Even if you were full of it, I still believe what you taught me. I'm not a Sith. I will die with my honor in tact."

Laan removed one his his three remaining lightsabers and tossed it at Vayne's feet, "Fight me."

Vayne leaned over and picked it up. He held it tight in his palms as he thought to himself. Finally he ignited the blade and dropped into his defensive stance, "I don't want to see you fall any deeper into darkness, Laan. For the man I once called my friend, I'll kill this impostor you've become."

"Good then." Laan's spirits grew as he ignited his own blade and dropped into his usual opening stance. Standing side ways with his blade pointed directly at Vayne.

Directly over Vayne's shoulder Laan could see Lwyn watching the duel. He momentary lost his concentration on the battle as he looked at her and Vayne broke the first rule of battle Laan taught him, never act first. Vayne was right to break the rule because Laan was caught off guard. Vayne charged forward and swiped sideways near Laan's head. Laan ducked the overhead swipe and had to leap back as a second strike came down upon him. Vayne didn't let up as he continued to attack Laan with a flurry of stabs and strikes.

Vayne's style was usually defensive but he knew that he would never be able to stop Laan for more than a few moves. Especially since Laan knew every move Vayne had in his arsenal. Vayne had to fight on pure instinct and even though he was on the offensive, Laan was in control. Laan had yet to even attempt to attack Vayne because he was too busy studying Vayne's new style of fight. With every strike Laan would step back to dash to the side to avoid the move. In doing so he watched how Vayne would follow up. It got to the point where Laan could direct Vayne where to go just by which way he avoided the strike. He took a step back and just as Vayne had done in the past, he would stab at Laan's chest. Vayne was predictable. When he stabbed at Laan's chest he left himself defenseless against a counter attack form above or the sides. Laan brought his lightsaber down onto of Vayne's lightsaber, slicing the head off the weapon.

The severed lightsaber sparked in Vayne's hand and the blade sizzled before vanishing. Vayne leapt backwards as he dropped the broken saber to the ground. Laan sighed as he thought the battle was over too soon. But Vayne in a desperate attempt reached his hands towards a rack of stun sticks set just outside of the battle grounds. He summoned a single stun stick from the rack and into his hands. In further desperation he held the stun stick out in front of him. Laan shook his head in disappointment as he extinguished his lightsaber and clasped it to his side, "Vayne. Vayne, don't embarrass yourself with this... feeble display."

Vayne just grit hit teeth and held the stun stick firm in his grasp. Laan took a step forward. With the step he extended his hand towards Vayne and summoned a Force Point attack directed at the stun stick. Vayne grinned and under his breath he whispered, "I told you this trick would only work once."

Just as Laan hit the Force Point attack on Vayne's stun stick, Vayne released his hands from the training weapon and leaped back but kept the stick in the air using Force levitation. The stun stick shattered from Laan's attack but Vayne countered with a more traditional Force push at the stun stick splinters causing them to fly at Laan. Laan leapt high into the air to avoid Vayne's cunning counter attack.

By the time Laan landed, Vayne had already summoned another stun stick into his hands. Laan snickered as Vayne charged him with the new weapon. Laan stood unyielding to Vayne advances. He just stood up straight as Vayne swiped the stun stick over his head, trying to slam weapon down on Laan's head. Laan simply sidestepped the attack and jammed the palm of his hand into Vayne's right shoulder and unleashed his Force Point attack directly into Vayne's flesh and bone causing internal damage. Vayne howled in pain as the right side of his body was jerked back. Vayne staggered backwards from the painful attack but kept his stun stick held tight in his left hand. Vayne tried to sweep the stick at Laan again but Laan dodged it with ease and countered with another Force Point to Vayne's left shoulder. This time causing Vayne to drop the stun stick. Laan shook his head with disappointment, "Such a shame, buddy."

Vayne was in allot of pain from the two Force Point attacks and as hard as he tried not showing it, his face revealed his weakened state. Vayne was unarmed and weak. His arms could barley move. They were just dead weight. Vayne was defeated. However, he wasn't going to go down without a fight. In further desperation Vayne tried to kick at Laan's chest. Laan caught Vayne's leg it mid air and hit Vayne's knee with a third Force Point to Vayne's captured knee. Vayne cried out again as Laan dropped Vayne's leg to the ground. Vayne had fallen to a knee just to keep upright. He cursed at Laan, "Argh! Damn you, Laan. Just finish it."

Laan sneered down at Vayne, "Now you want to finish it? You attacked me and now you want mercy? It doesn't work that way."

Vayne opened his mouth to say something but couldn't get the words out as Laan followed up with a fourth Force Point attack. This one directed at a more vital area. The rib cage. The air escaped from Vayne's lungs and he dropped to the ground on his back. He grasped his hands around his chest and throat as he gasped for air but couldn't breathe in enough. Every time he inhaled the pain was so intense that the air would just escape again. Laan sighed deeply as he looked up from Vayne towards Lwyn and Ollose. A small smile was etched into Laan's face as he turned his back to Vayne and began towards an exit tunnel near Lokidnr's throne. As he walked past her, Lokindr scowled down at Laan, "You were supposed to kill him."

Without stopping or hesitating Laan just simply replied, "I did."

Laan vanished into the tunnel and Lokindr looked back at Vayne. He laid still with his chest heavily panting up and down as it tired desperately to find precious air. Lokindr reluctantly smiled. Laan was sure he had caused enough damage to kill his former ally and as Lokidnr watched on, she didn't doubt him. Vayne was like a fish out of water just waiting helplessly as his life faded. She stood up from her throne and looked over to a medical droid who was present at every Arena Day and told it, "Take the Nautolan to the medical facility. Make sure he doesn't survive."

The humanoid droid hobbled over to Vayne followed by a small group of Sith troopers. The droid told them to carry Vayne over to the medical facility. Lokidnr let out a relived sigh. Laan had taken to his new role with ease. He acted defiant towards her but when it mattered the most he didn't hesitate to act in her order. Even against a former friend. If Laan handled Vayne so easily there wasn't a shred of doubt left in Lokidnr towards Laan. She had found quite the pupil.

________\-**V**-/________

Lwyn, or Zecarpse as Ollose had newly appointed her, watched from the Arena's shadows as the troops lifted Vayne by the arms and legs with no care for Vayne's comfort. They just yanked on his injured arms and leg and did nothing to alleviate Vayne's battered ribs. They treated him as if he was already dead. She wanted to kill those troopers. Ollose picked up on her concern and scolded her, "Remember who you are now, Zecarpse. Concern for the feeble is in your past."

She nodded in response but said nothing. Her already heavy heart fell when she saw the troops carry Vayne over in her direction. They were standing in a tunnel that apparently must have been connected to the medical facility. Her eyes grew wide as the troops passed by her with Vayne. She saw Vayne gasping for air as he passed by. Vayne turned his head and stared into Zecarpse's eyes. She sensed his woe and felt that he only wanted this to end. He too was betrayed by her just as Laan was. But Vayne remained good in heart where Laan abandoned his conscious and humanity. Vayne should be the one who still lives, not Laan. The thought of Laan made her grab for her lightsaber. She wanted to chase Laan down and finish things once and for all. Ollose wouldn't have any of that. He gently placed his hand on her arm and whispered, "In time, girl. In time."

She grit her teeth as she continued gripping onto her lightsaber. She didn't want to let go. She wanted to avenge Vayne no matter what Ollose told her. She didn't want to wait but she wasn't going to disobey Ollose either. So she reluctantly clipped her saber back to her side. Ollose began walking away from the Arena and demanded she fallow him. She was relived to at least be leaving that cursed Arena. She never wanted to come here again.

________\-**V**-/________

Inside Lokindr's room the aquarium walls were open and Laan was standing before the window with his hands folded behind his back and watched as the snake-like creatures swim around inside of it. Lokindr was sitting at her chair in the center of the room watching and listening to a holo-image of the medical droid as it explained to her how the troops left Vayne in a medical room. Lokindr then asked, "And the patients health?"

"He has passed on, I'm afraid." The medical droid told her. The droid was programed to think that death was a bad thing but Lokidnr thought the exact opposite. The droid continued, "The subject's injuries were to great to repair. His ribs were broken and caved around his lungs causing great restriction to the subject's lungs. Because he was a Nautolan he could survive longer without air but in the end he was asphyxiated and died just moments ago."

Phyress smiled as she looked back at Laan who was just staring at the snake creatures in the aquarium. She was sure he had heard the droid's report but he didn't seem to be very interested. He had already known the end result before any one else. She looked back to the droid and told it, "Dispose of the body. I'm sure my pets wouldn't care for his type of meat anyways."

"As you wish." The droid answered. Phyress then disconnected the transmission.

She turned to ask Laan, "You have killed Vayne and you have no remorse."

Laan didn't seem to pay any attention to her question. He just stared into the massive aquarium as one of the snakes swam past the window. The snake seemed to notice Laan on the other side of the glass and stopped swimming. It put the tip of it's nose on the glass next to Laan. Laan put his right hand on the glass right where the snake's nose touched the glass and moved his hand as if he were petting it. Ignoring Phyress's question he asked one of his own, "These things are really drawn to the Dark Side of the Force, eh?"

Phyress nodded and said with a contempt smile, "Yes. They seem quite drawn to you."

"And their official names have been forgotten with the collapse of Apsus' civilization. That doesn't seem right." Laan said again as he stared the creature in the eyes, "Then I'll give them a name, Swyren. Yeah... Yeah, 'Swyren the forgotten'."

Laan kept staring the 'Swyren' in the eyes. The Swyren let out a pleasant whaling sound that vibrated through the glass wall. Laan responded with by sending calm pluses through the Force to the Swyren. The Swyren responded with more whaling coos. Laan realized that Lokidnr was wrong. The Swyren weren't drawn to the Dark Side of the Force. They were just drawn to the Force in general. Light, dark, or in between. She was right though when she explained to him earlier how magnificent they really were. Suddenly as Laan was enjoying his experience with the Swyren the walls around the aquarium closed and Laan's view of the creatures was obstructed. Any light given by the aquarium had vanished and darkness overlapped the room once again. Laan gripped his hands into fists and turned to face Lokidnr who had shut him away from the Swyren. He scowled at her. She responded with a shrug of the shoulders, "No more time for playing. We have more business to take care of."

Laan looked back to the wall where the aquarium wall was once visible. He wished he could have interacted more with the Swyren. Then as if the Swyren could feel his anxiousness, he heard two sets of coos faintly through the walls. They were talking to him. Laan smiled at the response before Lokindr order him over to her side. Under his breath he whispered, "Later."

He then joined Lokindr by standing next to her chair. She stared at him through her mask and calmly stated, "You are quite an enigma my apprentice."

"Yes, Master." He responded with little emotion, "So then. What is next?"

Phyress smiled wickedly, "Training. Soon we'll challenge Ollose and his pet. We will not lose."

Laan responded, "Yes, Master."


	20. Chapter 21: Endgame

Chapter 21: Endgame

The luxurious cruiser ship 'Uue Vliccia'. A sleek ship, viridian green in color with an indigo streak down the sides. Minimum weapons but heavy shielding. It was the transport ship created specifically for the President of Esseles. Ellia Tab allowed Zade and the Jedi, along with Senator Parra and her assistant Yaulba, to use the 'Uue Vliccia' to travel to Coruscant to meet with Rasch Mungand. They sat in the ship's main hold. Zade called over to Yaulba who was piloting the ship from the cockpit located just ahead of the main hold, "How long until we arrive?"

The Bothan looked back over his chair to Zade, "Maybe another hour. Maybe a bit more."

"Thank you." Zade said before turning back towards his padawan who was standing in the center of the ship's main hold. There the Jedi and Sienn sat and watched her with great interest. Annoli was spinning her dual lightsaber handles in her hands. Wennsis cautioned her, "Be careful not to accidentally turn those on as you are playing around with them."

Koppler laughed, "Yeah listen to the good lady. She knows of what she speaks. How do you think she lost that eye of hers?"

Wennsis let out a small, annoyed sigh. Zade leaned his elbow on his knee as he sat forward and gave Annoli a nod of the head, "I sense danger ahead of us. Physical danger or other wise I do not know. Either way I think we should brush up on some battle skills why we have the opportunity."

Annoli smiled and switched on her blue bladed sabers, "Alright then!"

Zade cleared his throat loudly, "Ahem. Annoli, dear. I don't think it's wise to use lightsabers in such an enclosed area. Hand them over."

She frowned as she switched them off and tossed them to Zade, "Dear? Don't call me dear, old man."

Zade chuckled, "Fair enough."

She shrugged her shoulders, "What should I do then?"

Koppler grinned with his own amusement, "Why don't you do 300 laps around the ship. Work up a good sweat. Or 50 back flips."

Wennsis shook her head, "We don't want to exaust the girl. Just show her a few lightsaber techniques."

"Perhaps we should let the young girl's Master decide what to do." Sarval suggested.

Zade smiled, "Annoli, what I want you to do is practice your silent meditation."

"Meditation? What kind of battle training is that?" Annoli questioned.

"One of the greatest advantages in battle is being calmer in mind and body than your opponent. Silent meditation allows you to regain your composure even during the fires of war. The more fluid your mind works, the more capable you are of concentrating. You will fatigue less, be more precise with your strikes, and are less likely to make a mistake. Last time I checked these were all good things to have during battle."

"Y-yes, Master." She said before she closed her eyes and began meditation.

Seeing this, Zade clapped his hands loudly at Annoli to see if he could disrupt her. To her credit Annoli didn't flinch. She just continued on with her silent meditation. Zade smiled and nodded his head with approval, "Good. However you are just standing there with your eyes closed. I want you to do laps around this room with your eyes closed for no longer than a blink. And make sure you don't break meditation for a moment."

She let out an exasperated sigh. She knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she did as she was told without question. She began jogging around the room with her eyes open. First she passed Sienn, then Koppler, then the cockpit, then Sarval, then Zade, then Xevioso, then Wennsis before repeating the circular route. All the while she closed her mind off and tried meditating. All of her anxiety caused over the past few weeks had to be removed from her mind. That wasn't easy. Meditation was easy for her when she was at a standstill and with her eyes shut. This however was a new experience altogether. With her eyes open, vision was just another thing for her brain to process that distracted her from her meditation.

She must have been jogging for twenty minuets before her mind finally seemed to break off into two branches. One branch of her mind concentrated on her eyes and her surroundings. The other branch was a much deeper sensation. A sensation that streamed down from the top of her head, ran down her spine and chest and continued streaming down to the tips of her toes. The stream felt like warm water, reaching into her pores, through her muscles, and even seemed to reach down into the bones in her body. Even as she jogged around with her eyes open she felt as if she were growing calmer and more aware. Even with her physical strain from jogging it was like she in a deep, relaxing slumber. A half second of meditation was like the equivalent of a couple of minuets of sleep. She felt so calm and peaceful- Wham! As she was jogging she was suddenly tripped up and her face was planted into the ground. She groaned as she turned to see what had caused her to trip. She saw Koppler's foot sticking out in front of him. She curled her upper lip, "Hey? What was that?"

Koppler shrugged his shoulders, "So sorry but this meditation _is_ meant to be used in battle. You don't expect your enemy to just sit there and wait for you to finish your meditation. You really must be more aware."

"He's right." Zade told her as he stifled a chuckle, "Coming out of meditation is just as important as the onset. You must learn the perfect timing to use meditation."

Annoli nodded, "Yes, Master. Shall I begin again?"

Before Zade could answer, Yaulba shouted back to them, "Incoming message from a Jedi Master Takie."

Sienn called up to him, "Please relay the message back here."

"Yes, Senator." He responded before hitting a button on the control board.

The lights in the main hold dimmed and a gray and white holo-image flickered in the middle of the hold. At first the image was unrecognizable static because Anoli had stood up directly in the middle of the holo-image. She let out a startled yelp before she ran over to a bench seat next to Zade. With Annoli gone the images of the Chadra-Dan Master and a protocol droid appeared before them. Zade welcomed her, "Greetings, Master Takie. I'm glad to see that you are safe. How are the others?"

She paused a moment before letting out a low chirp followed by a number of other chirps and squeaks. The droid translated for her, "Masters Hub-Hud, Rabb'dra, and Dyraid all escaped danger. However, I'm afraid my Master has a few bits of sad news to report."

Zade had a very bad feeling. Master Sarval let out a deep sigh, "What news is this?"

She chirped and the droid replied, "The Jedi Council has been disbanded."

"That we are already aware of." Master Xevioso said.

The droid continued, "Yes. The Council has been disbanded yet they remain troublesome. There is word that they are trying to gather Jedi sympathetic to their plight to join them. They have even gone as far as to threaten those who oppose them."

Zade exchanged worried glances with Sarval. Sarval then spoke what they were both thinking, "This is very reminiscent of the archives about the Sith. The ancient sect of Sith were born in part by a group of Dark Jedi exiles."

"The Sith. The Mandalorians. And now even our own brothers and sisters are against us. Century after century our enemies only seem to increase in number." Koppler said as if he were exhausted.

Takie chirped some more and the droid translated, "I'm afraid the news only gets worse. Chancellor Errdict was assassinated this past evening."

Everyone was caught by surprise. Zade asked again for confirmation, "Assassinated? How?"

"It appears an explosive was set in the Chancellor's office. An investigation is currently ongoing." The droid answered.

Xevioso pounded his fist onto his own knee, "This reeks of deception."

"Deception?" Sienn asked, "Do you believe you know who is responsible?"

Xevioso nodded, "The former Jedi Council."

"Whoa!" Annoli blurted out, "Do you really think they go THAT far? I mean I know they are crooked but THIS crooked?!"

Zade closed his mind off and listened to the Force for insight. The Force howled and cried to him. The more he listened the louder these cries of darkness became. Louder and louder and his mind seemed to become further and further absorbed in the darkness. He was starting to become distant with the presence around him. He winced as darkness overflowed and seemed to hit him like a tidal wave. Annoli had to yank harshly on the sleeve of his robe to snap him out of it. The darkness left and he once again found himslef sitting in the main hold inside the 'Uue Vliccia'. Annoli patted him on the back, "Are you well, Master? You were breathing loudly."

Zade cleared his throat and wiped sweat from his forehead, "Y-yes. I am now."

"What was that all about?" Koppler asked.

"I do not know." Zade responded with strain in his voice, "I had a vision. At least I think it was a vision. I'm not really sure what is was to be honest. Whatever it was, I think it means danger is in our near future... a lot of it."

Annoli looked concern for her Master, "Are you sure you are okay."

He patted her on the knee, "Yes, yes. I think I'll go rest before we arrive."

"You be sure to do that." Sarval said with concern for his comrade.

Zade got up and left towards another room in the ship. Annoli got up to leave with him but Zade gestured for her to stay here in the main hold. So she sat back in her seat. With Zade gone, Koppler said, "I don't like the looks of that. I've felt unrest myself but nothing to the point of making me sick."

"He isn't sick!" Annoli argued, "He is just tired is all."

"Just another reason to keep our eyes and mind open to dangers as we come closer to Coruscant." Wennsis warned everyone.

Annoli looked over to Xevioso and brought up what he said earlier, "So do you really think the council is behind the assassination?"

"Yes." He answered, "I believe so. Errdict removed the Council from their position and they had their revenge. They are no longer Jedi and revenge is no longer prohibited for them. Nothing is. They have their own rules."

Annoli shook her head, "I can't believe this. I mean... I can believe this. But I can't believe that I can believe this."

"What nonsense are you talking?" Koppler asked with a slight smirk, "The way teenagers talk today, really."

Takie chirped something to which the droid responded, "The senate is assembling for an emergency meeting in less than an hour to discuss things. Errdict's second, Phom Hill will hold the meeting. Phom Hill will be in charge of the senate until a new Chancellor is agreed upon."

"Then Rasch can be named the new Chancellor?" Annoli asked with a smile.

"Perhaps." Sienn told her, "He was heavily the favorite when there were plans of removing Erridct from his position. Phom Hill himself has a few supporters in the Senate."

"Do you think that somebody besides the council tried to remove Errdcit from his position, vigilante style?" Annoli asked.

Sarval closed his eyes and sighed, "That could be. Thats probably what the popular theory will be. But... I believe Master Xevioso may be correct. The timing of events certainly seem to suggest that the Council may have been involved."

"What does the Force tell you?" Sienn, the only non-Jedi in the hold asked.

Sarval looked into the holo-image of Takie. Takie locked eyes with Sarval's image and she shook her head. Sarval then said, "It is very difficult to say. The Force is dangerously cloudy right now. The only one of us who has the ability to see deep enough into the Force is Zade and even he seemed to fail."

"He didn't fail." Annoli then said under her breath, "He is just... tired."

"Quick to defend your Master?" Wennsis asked her rhetorically, "You must learn that even your Master is not perfect. He has flaws. We all do. Imperfections are how we learn. You must learn this way yourself."

Annoli nodded, "Yes, Master Wennsis."

As Annoli and Wennsis were talking Sarval was thinking to himself. He had a sudden thought and told Takie, "Master Takie, could you have a Jedi sent to Rasch Mungand's apartment and make sure he arrives at the gathering safely?"

Takie nodded and chirped. The droid translated, "Yes. I will send Master Rabb'dra."

"Thank you." Sarval told her, "You should probably leave for the Senate Building. If we are unable to make it you will have to represent us."

She nodded her head before cutting the transmission. The image fizzled and the lights returned to normal. Annoli looked concerned, "Do you believe Rasch is in danger?"

"Perhaps. I just want added protection is all." Sarval said.

"We should be there soon. I think I'll follow Master Zade's lead and take a quick rest before we arrive." Wennsis told everyone.

"Good idea." Koppler agreed.

The Jedi and Annoli all left to go mediate, leaving Sienn and Yaulba. Sienn walked over to the cockpit and flopped down into a chair just behind Yaulba's seat, "Well I don't need to be a Jedi to have a bad feeling about this."

Yaulba nodded in agreement, "It's times like these where I think it's safest to be as far away from Jedi as possible. The closer you are to them, the closer you are to danger. Just our luck, we have a whole ship full of them."

"..." Sienn just breathed deeply and let her head drop back against the chair's head rest, "Hopefully this can restore some order. Then I can finally have a good night sleep for a change."

________\-**V**-/________

The Klatooinian Jedi Knight Rabb'dra walked through the hallways of the Senate apartments. When Rabb'dra arrived at Senator Mungand's room he went to press his finger on the door's touch pad when a shiver ran up his spine. Danger. He quickly removed his lightsaber from his robe and protectively held it out in front of him. His eyes darted down the hallways looking for possible threats from the sides. There were none. With his saber still in hand he reached over to the door's panel, but before he could reach it, the door opened. Seemingly on it's own. If he wasn't on alert by then, he certainly was now. He switched his yellow blade on and cautiously strode into the room.

His eyes darted back and forth across the room as he scanned for danger. The walls were an ivory white color and the lighting was bright so shadows of intruders could easily be seen with his eyes if he failed to detect them through the Force. There was little furniture or other things for enemies to hide behind. It didn't' seem that there was anybody else besides him in this room. He could also rule out the kitchen, bathroom, and one of the bedrooms because their doors were open and he felt he could see enough of them to rule them out. That left two rooms with doors closed.

One to his direct left and one to his direct right. He waited for the Force to guide him on what door to check first but in the end it came down to his hearing. As he was waited he heard an object shuffle in the door to his right. He had them. He took his lightsaber in one hand and with his free hand he used the Force to open the right door from a distance. As soon as the door slid open he let out a startled gasp as he saw Rasch bound to a chair and gagged with a scarf. Rasch's eye expressed fear. Fear not for his own life but for the Jedi Knight's life. Rabb'dra sensed he had sprung a trap and realized exactly what the trap was. Once he realized it he quickly spun around and swiped his lightsaber behind him. His yellow blade clashed with an opposing orange blade. The owner of this weapon was former Jedi Master Cled Amousous. He was hiding behind the door to his left when Rabb'dra was drawn to the door to his right. He almost failed to realize that and nearly fell to Celd's sneak attack... and if he was drawn to the door on his right that meant that... he quickly ducked down and leaped further into the main room just as a blue lightsaber was swiped at his head from behind him.

He got to his feat and held his lightsaber defensively with two hands as he saw Cled and Kol'Tyuk standing side by side with their sabers drawn. Kol'Tyuk was the one in the right room who had distracted him in the first place as they tried to lure him into their trap. Kol'Tyuk reached his hand back and closed the entrance door with the Force. Meanwhile, Cled smiled to Rabb'dra, "Applause to you Jedi Knight for surviving this long."

Rabb'dra spat at their feet, "How could you fall this far so quickly? I can't believe your scum ruled over the Jedi."

Irritated, Cled shook his head almost as a twitch, "There is little point of bickering now."

Words were over and done with. Rabb'dra was first to act as he reached out with the Force and used it to grab onto a glass table behind him. He quickly leapt backwards at the same time he lunged the table underneath his airborne body with an aimed target of Cled. Cled had to make a sudden and harsh sidestep just to avoid the full force of the table. Even with his sudden reflexes, the table's corner hit Cled in the side of his left leg and knocked Cled off balance enough to cause him to crash into the room where Kol'Tyuk had just been hiding in a moment ago. Meanwhile, the table hit the wall just behind where Cled stood a moment ago and shattered into shards of glass. Rabb'dra reached out with the Force and caused the door to the room that just Cled crashed into, to close behind him and lock. It wouldn't stop Cled for more then a few second but Rabb'dra knew that being outnumber meant he needed every second in a one-on-one match up he could afford.

So with this brief moment of being alone with Kol'Tyuk he didn't waste time. He decided to make one desperate attack against Kol'Tyuk in hopes of removing him from the battle. He leapt forward and lunged his lightsaber forward. He put every ounce of strength he could into this strike. Kol'Tyuk wasn't going to allow that though and Force pushed the lunging Rabb'dra while he was still in mid air. In response Rabb'dra tried to summon the Force to shield his body from the Force push. He tired to get the Force to surround his body so the push would just bounce off his body as rain bounces of a boulder. He was half successful in doing so. He managed to keep his body from being sent backwards but in doing so his momentum from his leap was drastically reduced. However, Kol'Tyuk had depended on his Force push too much and didn't even bother putting his lightsaber up in a defensive position. He paid for that mistake as Rabb'dra used what little momentum he had left and threw his lightsaber at Kol'Tyuk's chest.

The blade flew from his hand perfectly like an arrow headed towards a bullseye. Kol'Tyuk was barely even aware of the danger he was in until the saber singed into his chest and stared piercing his body. Rabb'dra thought that he had dealt a fatal blow to Kol'yuk but his spirits were shattered when his thrown lightsaber suddenly jerked from Kol'Tyuk's chest and was violently slammed into the wall to Kol'Tyuk's left.

Rabb'dra who was still airborne finally flopped to the ground chest first. Without a weapon he felt weak. He quickly pushed himself up to his feat with his hands and looked to see Cled running from the room he was once locked in. Rabb'dra's desperate throwing attack was thwarted by Cled. Rabb'dra had overestimated how much time he had by locking Cled in that room when he made that attack. Cled had exited the room and pushed Rabb'dra's lightsaber away from Kol'Tyuk just centimeters before the saber made it's fatal stab. Now, Cled charged at Raab'dra with full speed and his lightsaber's blade trailing just behind him. Rabb'dra moved to reach out for his fallen lightsaber but his hand was barely even able to twitch before Cled had used his lightsaber like a club and swung it through Rabb'dra's helpless body.

Rabb'dra's fallen body fell limp to the ground as Cled stood up straight with a bloodthirsty smirk on his face. Kol'Tyuk was grasping his chest as blood spilled down the front of his body. Cled ignored Kol'Tyuk as he reached down and grabbed onto Rabb'dra's corpse. He lifted it up with nothing more than the muscle in his right hand and threw it into the room where Rasch sat bound. Kol'Tyuk hurried into the bathroom to look for any medical supplies as blood poured from his wound while Cled strode into the same room with Rasch in it. He pointed down to Rabb'dra's body and shrugged his shoulders, "Here you go. Here is what the future lies for the Jedi and the Republic without the Jedi Council. You, Senator-General, are just in the wrong position during the wrong time. Really, it's nothing personal. Actually, I'm a fan of your war accomplishments."

Cled then laughed from deep within his belly as he walked from the room and closed the door behind him leaving Rasch alone with Rabb'dra's dead body. Rasch had to bite down on his gag to release his built up anger. He was a man of peace and understanding and he had to fight within himself over the difference between justice and revenge. As he stared down at the body of a Jedi Knight who died for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, Rasch had to remind himself that justice will be dealt and his desire for revenge couldn't overwhelm his desires.

________\-**V**-/________

"If it hasn't been said enough already, I have a very bad feeling about this." Annoli said as she stared at a statue of an old Republic hero by the name Admiral Carth Onasi. Annoli, Zade, and the others stood inside the 'Atrium of the Senate'. A grand hall inside the Senate building that was lined with statues of past Republic heroes and politicians.

Zade who was standing behind her, shook his head in agreement, "Yes. Things are not well."

On the opposite side of the atrium was a section that led into the 'Senate Rotunda' where the emergency gathering had already begun without them. However, they received a message from Master Takie that she was present during the gathering and was representing them until they arrived. The Jedi continued walking down the hall towards the Rotunda so they could be present during this historical moment. As they walked Annoli sighed deeply. Zade asked her, "Nervous, Annoli?"

"Yeah." She said with a strained voice, "I can deal with an enemy that I can defend myself against. But this... How do you deal with politicians?"

"You don't." Xevioso grumbled.

"That's not true." Koppler said as he looked over to Annoli with a knowing smirk on his face, "If you

want to know how to handle the Senate just remember one thing... they think they are in charge of everything. If you have an idea that you want passed, just make them think it's their idea. That way they can take credit for it and you get what you want."

"Normally, I'd tell you to stay away from Koppler's advice but on this matter I'd have to agree with him." Zade told Annoli.

"See?" Koppler said with a wide smile, "Always listen to me, Annoli."

"No!" Zade and Wenssis both protested.

Koppler acted offended and hurt, "Geez. It was just a joke."

Xevioso scolded Koppler, "Now is not the time for jokes."

"Excuse me!" A voice called form behind Zade. They turned around to see a little Twi'lek boy with pale skin and little lekku, or headtails, hanging from behind his head. Annoli patted him on the head and giggled, "Awe, what a cute little fellow."

He smiled cheerfully before asking Zade, "Are you Master Rad'Hyth?"

That oh so familiar moniker that Zade loved so much. He cleared his throat, "Ugh. Yes I am... Zade Rad'Hyth."

He reached into his pocket and removed a holopad and handed it to Zade, "Someone told me to give this to you."

"Oh. Thank you." Zade said as he took the holopad from the boy. The boy looked up at Zade impatiently. Zade raised an eyebrow, "Is there anything else?"

Annoli scoffed, "Duh! Master, ever heard of a tip?"

"Oh yes." Zade reached into his pockets and looked for a spare credit but couldn't find any, "I seem to be at a loss."

Sienn handed the boy a few credits to which the boy ran off. Annoli raised a curious eyebrow at her Master, "Out of credits you say? That seems very unlike you to be so unprepared."

He shrugged his shoulders, "They must have fallen from my robes with my battle against Goullovan. Yes, that must be it."

"Uh-huh." She said simply.

Zade hit a button on the pad which caused a gray and white image to shine up from the base of the pad. The image made everyone's heart skip a beat. They saw an image of Rasch Mungard bound to a chair as he sat next to a slain Jedi Knight Rabb'dra. Xevioso rushed closer to the pad in Zade's hand to get a closer look. He couldn't believe his eyes. He looked up at Zade, "What it this?!"

Sarval lowered his gaze to the floor, "My concerns were correct. The same culprits behind Errdict's assassination-"

"The Council did this?" Annoli asked, appalled.

Zade continued watching the image before it fizzled away into nothing. Zade wasn't sure if this message came with a booby trap so as soon as the image fizzled away he tossed it to the corner of the hall where no one stood. It didn't explode as Zade may have feared so he levitated the pad back to his hands. He tossed the holo pad to Sienn, "We need to find Rasch right away."

"Where is he? I couldn't tell from that image." Xevioso asked Zade.

"I'm not sure." Zade told him, "Rabb'dra was sent to Rasch's apartment so they could be there. However... I sense that likely they had been moved... hmm. We should split up. Sienn please take that holopad to the Rotunda and bring this kidnapping to everyone's attention right away. Keep the Council's possible involvement to yourself for now. You will do well in gathering everyone's attention."

"Yes. I shall interrupt whatever talks are going on." She and Yaulba didn't hesitate and ran to the Rotunda as quickly as they could.

Zade turned to the others and gave them orders, "With this personal message, I have no doubt the council is behind this now. I think we should split up. I want Masters Xevioso and Koppler to rush to Rasch's apartment. See if they are there or if there is at least any evidence of where they went. And keep in touch."

"Yes." Xevioso told Zade before looking to Koppler, "Come!"

"Right." Koppler responded before the two of them took off towards the hall's exit.

Zade looked over to Wenssis and sighed, "I believe the Council is using this message to bring us to them so they may have taken Rasch to a more obvious location. Master Wenssis I want you to take Annoli to the Senate office buildings in the Senate district. Go to Rasch's office. Perhaps they have taken them there."

"But why send me Master?" Annoli asked him, "Why can't I go with you?"

Zade looked over to Sarval. Sarval shared Zade's exact thoughts. The Jedi Temple. There was definitely something there. Something powerful. Annoli would be in over her head there. Zade trusted Wennsis with his padawan. So Zade leaned over to eye level with Annoli and patted her on the shoulder, "Annoli you are a very strong young girl. You adapt well to these dangerous situations and you are capable in a battle. Right now I'm not treating you as a padawan but as a comrade. Remember your training and do what you can. I trust you Annnoli."

She held a stiff upper lip and nodded passionately, "Yes, Master. I will not fail you. May the Force be with you, Master."

"You too, Jedi." He told her as he stood up straight.

Wenssis tugged on Annoli's shoulder, "Come Annoli."

"Later, Master." She called out as the two Jedi dashed towards the exit.

Zade inhaled and exhaled deeply, "Well then. Is there any doubt that we should head to the Jeid Temple?"

"Not one." Sarval said.

Zade took a quick glimpse of a holoimage in the hall. It was the same image being broadcast across the galaxy. The image of the Seante meeting and discussing Errdict's assassination. At the moment a few Senators loyal to Erridct were saying a few words in a kindhearted eulogy. However, they were interrupted when Sienn rushed into the room and began calling everyone's attention to her. Hopefully she would be able to persuade the Senate to order an emergency search throughout Coruscant for Rasch. That would make things easier on them. While there was a concern that a global search could panic the Council into killing their hostage... Zade doubted it. The Council, more specifically Adian, wanted to lure Zade and the others out to finish this personal vendetta. Zade and Sarval knew the Council's ways of thought more than anybody else. They were once Council members themselves. This was a game of hunt and trap to the former Jedi Council and it was time that they gave the Council their endgame.


	21. Chapter 22: Lifeline

Chapter 22: Lifeline

Master Xevioso and Koppler looked down at the dead body of the once Jedi High Council member, Kol'Tyuk. When they arrived at Rasch's apartment they were met with security offers who were first to respond to the apartment after a loud commotion was reported. The security then took the two Jedi up to the apartment as they explained what they found at first arrival. When the Jedi and security arrived they found broken glass from a shattered table. Dried blood was stained on many different surfaces. Then after the officers showed them Kol'Tyuk's body, they directed them to the balcony.

Koppler stayed with the body to examine it further while Xevioso went to the balcony alone, without the officers. The glass doors slid open and he walked to the balcony that overlooked a great part of Coruscant. There was a railing made of three bars the ringed across the balcony's ledge. Wedged in between two of those bars was Jedi Knight Rabb'dra's body. He was mangled and shoved into the bars so his body was positioned in an exact position with his left arm hanging over the ledge. Xevioso followed the direction the arm hanged. It was pointing towards the Senate offices. The Council was pointing the Jedi to that exact location. Xevisois reached over and gently placed his finger tips on Rabb'dra's forehead, "Sleep well warrior." He then looked back to the Senate offices and frowned, "Such arrogance."

Koppler sighed as he joined Xevioso on the balcony. As soon as he saw Rabb'dra's body he looked away and sorrowfully spoke, "Dang... Rabby... If Kol'Tyuk is dead and Rabb'dra has been moved that means there was someone else here to move his body. There was at least two of them, maybe more when Rabb'dra arrived. He never had a chance did he?"

"No." Xevioso said somberly, "Not only was he outnumbered but I'm sure they also set a trap for him. But he was able to defeat Kol'Tyuk?"

"Kol'Tyuk bled out." Koppler explained what he saw, "Rabb'dra's lightsaber pierced enough to sever a vital blood vein but the blade was yanked from Kol'Tyuk's chest in such a way that the saber was never able seer and cauterize the wound. So the vein kept bleeding. Ohh... I never thought I'd be in this situation."

Xevioso removed a vocal-transmitter from his robe and punched in a frequency. A moment later Master Wenssis' voice could be heard through the device, "Master Xevioso."

"Be cautious." Xevioso told her, "I believe you are headed for danger. Rabb'dra has fallen as has Kol'Tyuk. They left evidence that the Senate offices are a point of interest. Perhaps you should wait for Master Koppler and I to arrive to give you support."

"They still hold the Senator a hostage." Wenssis pointed out, "We have no time to waste. We should go in now. You two come as quickly as possible. But we must go now."

"Very well." Xevioso agreed, "My hopes are to find you two already victorious when we arrive. May the Force be with you."

"As you." She said before they mutually ended the transmission.

Xevioso and Koppler reentered the apartment from the balcony and Xevioso gave order to the officers, "When the coroners arrive please ask them to take the bodies to the Jedi temple after they are finished with their examination."

"Yes, Master Jedi." They responded.

Xevioso turned to Koppler, "Lets go."

________\-**V**-/________

Master Wennsis and Annoli stood in silence as a lift took them up to the third level of the Senate office building. Rasch's office was on the third level. Both of them had their lightsabers in hand. They were on high alert after Master Xevioso sent word of warning to them. Annoli couldn't seem to sit still. She bounced around on her toes as she got her blood flowing. Wennsis quietly told her, "Relax, Padawan. Be calm. Soothe your anxiety."

Annoli bit down on her lower lip and halted her bouncing. She looked Wennsis eye to eye, "H-how many members of the Council do you think will be there waiting for us?"

"I do not know. Maybe all of them. Maybe none. Are you worried?"

"No." Annoli told her unconvincingly.

"I can feel it in you. What are you afraid of?" Wennsis proceeded her inquiry of Annoli.

"I..." Annoli broke eye contact with Wennsis and gazed down at the floor, "When we came here... by SkyTran. I looked at the buildings we passed and I just got this nausea. It was the city that made me feel so sick. I'm not worried about myself. I'm worried for the city. Something very very bad is happening." Wennsis' face fell. Annoli could read her facial expression like a book, "You felt something too?"

Wennsis nodded, "Yes. I do not know what causes this foreboding feeling. But we mustn't dwell on that now. Right now in this moment we need to be wary of what is directly ahead of us. Put your outside distractions out of your mind."

Annoli had heard all of this before from her past Masters Borru and Zade but she still needed to be reminded of this by Wennsis. She was still young and needed to be guided. Annoli opened her mouth to speak but the lift began to slow to a halt. In anticipation of the unknown the two women held their sabers in a ready position. The doors slid open. Wennsis took point and stepped foot out of the lift. The lift opened into a wide open, golden-yellow reception office with a chrome desk in the center. Behind the desk there were three office doors. Annoli looked at the three office doors, "Which office belongs to Rasch?"

Wennsis didn't answer Annoli. She walked over to the desk in the center of the room and looked over the counter top. There was no receptionist to be found. Wennsis did notice a stack of datapads toppled over on the ground as well as a dent in the side of the desk caused by the chair violently being slammed into the desk side. All signs pointed to a recent struggle. Wennsis turned to Annoli, "On guard. Something has happened here and I believe there is still someone here."

"Then they are trapped in one of those three offices right? Well if they have no where to go then we can just wait here until the others arrive and lend us support." Annoli suggested.

"That seems like a logical plan, but too obvious." Wennsis said hesitantly as she eyed the three doors, "They would never lead themselves into such a corner. At least not without a strategy behind it."

"Well-" Annoli began to say before a sudden snapping sound reverberated throughout the office room. Wennsis quickly spun around and as if in slow motion she saw Annoli standing in front of the lift where they had just left. Behind her the lift plummeted down the shaft. Wennsis saw the lift's doors fall followed by the lift's ceiling. Wennsis' face dropped as she watched the ceiling fall past the lift's frame. There perched atop the lift as it fell was Cled Amousous. He had been waiting for them on the top of the lift the whole time. The empty office was just to throw them off and now as Cled passed by the opening left by the lift, he leapt forward with his orange saber ignited. His eyes were lock set on the unsuspecting Annoli.

Wennsis couldn't do anything other than watch in slow motion as Cled's saber inched it's way towards Annoli's back. Wennsis couldn't attack or use the Force on Cled because Annoli was between her and Cled. If she acted in any way she'd only cause further harm to Annoli. Wennsis could only think to Force push Annoli out of harm's way. But Wennsis couldn't act fast enough. But she didn't need to. As Cled was leaping for Annoli's back, Annoli dropped forward to the ground just as Cled's saber singed into the surface of Annoli's back. She was able to roll herself away from Cled's attack. As Cled's momentum carried him forward, Annoli used that to her advantage and as she rolled forward, She kicked her legs back and mule kicked Cled in the chest causing him to fly backwards towards the lift's now open shaft. Cled had to quickly reach out through the Froce and close the shaft's door behind him. So rather than plummeting down the lift shaft he instead slammed his back against the closed doors.

All three of them took the moment to ready themselves. Cled walked away leaned forward from the wall he slammed into. Meanwhile, Annoli had kip-upped into a standing position. She turned to face Cled. Wennsis raced over to Annoli's side as she ignited her white blade and Annoli her two blue blades. They held their solid position as Cled stared at them, "My traps don't seem to be working against you rabble."

((Authors Note: A 'kip-up' is where someone is on their back, pulls their knees up towards their chest, launch their feet into their air, push up with their neck or hands, hook their feet under their bodies, and then push up into a standing position... I figured I should explain that.))

Annoli looked back over her shoulder at the three office doors. There could still be someone hiding in them and at any moment could attack them from behind. Wennsis stared coldly at him, "You should have just plunged the lift into the abyss while we were still aboard. Why didn't you?"

Cled shrugged his shoulders, "Me versus two little girls? This match is already unsportsmanly enough. I don't need cheap gimmicks to defeat you."

"Gimmicks? What do you call tampering with the lift to stab me in the back? Unsuccessfully, I might add." Annoli shot at him.

He snickered, "There is a big difference between dirty tricks and tactical hunting."

"Ohh, look at 'Mr. Big Hunter'." Annoli countered back at him with a snicker of her own, "Well unless you call a little flesh wound on my back a success, you're tactics are folly. I've seen younglings with better battle sense than you."

At first, Wennsis was going to tell Annoli to quite herself. But then she noticed how Cled's demeanor suddenly turned from cocky to unraveled. Annoli's comments had gotten under his skin. So she let Annoli continue using her best weapon. Her mouth. In response to Annoli, Cled barked at her, "Younglings couldn't have slain Rabb'dra to the point of a mangled body!"

Cled had focused his attention towards a verbal fight with Annoli and let his focus slip. Wennsis took full advantage and used an advanced Force Leap to propel her body into the air and over Cled's head. She firmly planted her feat on the wall, above Cled's head. He looked up and saw Wennsis as she brought her white blade down at Cled's head. Cled brought his saber up and blocked the attack with ease. He then pushed his own blade upwards and she had to leap off the wall back to the floor. Annoli used her superior speed and agility to run forward and duck under Wennsis' airborne body as she was landing. She then thrust her two blades towards Cled's chest. Cled brought his saber back down on top of Annoli's sabers so hard that Annoli's two blades were knocked to the floor while her hands still grasped them. Cled took his free hand and balled it into a fist. He pummeled his fist across Annoli's face sending Annoli backwards with a bloody forehead.

Annoli was punched a little loopy but Wennsis continued with the attack. Not letting Cled catch a breather. Wennsis made multiple strikes at Cled and he managed to block all of them. When Annoli got her wits about, she joined Wennsis' side. The two kept Cled on constant guard. Always attacking and never allowing him to attack them once. Three fast and agile lightsabers against a single powerful but slow one. Cled struggled to fend them off as he grunted loudly with every block and with every block he was inched backwards towards the wall. Finally his back hit the wall behind him and he was trapped. Annoli brought her two sabers across Cled's hips but he blocked them. He however could not block Wennsis' simultaneous stab at his chest. The white blade pierced through his chest and plunged into his heart. Cled let out a silent gasp as his body fell forward and his saber fell from his hands. In one last ditch effort he grabbed Annoli's hair and yanked it. He took his elbow and smashed a button on the wall causing the lift's doors to open behind him once again. The shaft was still empty and Celd was using everything he had left to pull himself and Annoli back into the void Annoli growled and planted her foot in his chest and pushed him away from her. His body fell backwards down into the darkness of the shaft. Annoli leaned over and looked down the empty shaft. At the bottom she could see the rubble of the fallen lift piled under Cled's lifeless body. She leaned away from shaft and sighed, "Can't say he didn't have that coming to him. Little girls, huh?"

Wennsis extinguished her blade and joined Annoli in a loud exhale. She looked back to the three office doors. She walked over to the desk and hit three buttons that caused the three doors to open. The right and center offices were empty. The one on the left however had a somewhat welcome sight. Rasch was laying unconscious on the floor of the office. He was laying next to an unconscious human female that Wennsis assumed was the receptionist. Annoli gasped, "A-are they dead?"

"No." Wennsis assured her, "Their chests still move and breath."

Annoli let out a deep breath she had been holding in, "Whew..."

They both rushed over to the two unconscious bodies. Wennsis keeled down to Rasch's body and placed her right palm on the top of his forehead. She closed her eyes felt around in his conscious. She then opened her eyes and told Annoli, "He is in a deep sleep. He was probably given tranquilizers."

Annoli leaned over and checked on the receptionist. Annoli could see bruising around the back of her neck. Annoli raised an angered eyebrow, "It looks like Cled wasn't so kind with this one. I think he used his bare hands to knock her out."

Wennsis reached into her robe and removed her vocal-transmitter. She sent out a one way message to both groups of Jedi, "Rasch has been recovered. He is unconscious but he seems to be uninjured. Cled has also been destroyed."

She ended her recorded message and sent it to the other teams. She then sent a live message to Yaulba. He responded almost instantly, "Yaulba here."

Over the vocal-transmitter Wennsis could hear constant chatter in the background. She asked him,"How did you do with the Senate?"

"When Sienn brought that recording to everyone's attention the Senate didn't hesitate in halting the meeting and ordering all authorities to begin a search. Right now Sienn and I are in the Rotunda. Most of the senators are still here talking with each other or contacting their representing planets. It's a confused frenzy right now."

"Well let them know we have found Rasch. He is unconscious be seemingly unharmed." She told him.

Sienn must have grabbed the transmitter from Yaulba and told Wennsis, "That is good news to hear. Do you know who is behind this?"

"Yes. The former Jedi Council was in fact behind this."

"I see." Sienn paused a moment before saying, "I'll inform the Senate of Rasch's rescuing. For now I believe it best we leave the former council out of this. At least for the moment. If we tell them now in the middle of this panic, some of the more vocal yet easily frightened senators may confuse the situation and think that all the Jedi are to blame. We should wait to tell them until after things calm a bit."

"Yes. I understand." Wennsis told her, "I must go now. Once we leave the offices we will take Rasch to the nearest medical facility. I'll contact you again once we arrive."

"Thank you Master Jedi." Sienn said before she ended the transmission.

Wennsis sighed as she sat down on the floor. Annoli asked her, "Now what? Our only exit is a bottomless pit."

Wennsis looked over to a window in the office room, "I'll contact the building's security and see if they can send up a shuttle to retrieve us."

Annoli looked down at Rasch, "Well now that we have Rasch we don't have to worry about him being held hostage. I hope Master Zade and Sarval-Styr are alright..."

________\-**V**-/________

When Zade and Sarval were traveling to the Jedi temple via shuttle ship, they had no idea what to expect. They never guessed they would find what they did when they arrived. The shuttle dropped them off at the middle platform of the grand stairway, part of the Processional Way, that led up to the Jedi Temple. The large platform at the middle of the stairs was decorated with ornate, brass statues of past Jedi Masters. On a regular day the Processional Way was an inspiring sight of grace and elegance. Now though, Zade and Sarval came across an assemblage of Jedi who had flocked down to this center platform. Most of them were younglings accompanied by older Jedi or padawan. As soon as they landed, Zade and Sarval ran from the shuttle towards the female, Ishi Tib, Master Hub-Hud. She was helping three younglings run down the grand stairway towards the platform. Once the younglings safely arrived at the platform she met them. Zade hastily asked her, "What is going on?"

Hub-Hud struggled with the Basic language but she manged to make out, "Adian."

A female Theelin, a human subspecies, Jedi Knight rushed over to them. Zade recognized her from her violet hair slicked back into a flat Mohawk. Jedi Knight Pice Rassium. Pice filled them in on the information that Hub-Hud could not, "Masters. Adian Klypso and a great number of the former Council has bared themselves inside the temple. A few Jedi have even joined them. I can't believe they would side with the Council after all of this! They say they have a large explosive inside with them but that may be a bluff. Anyways, some of us made removing the younglings from the temple our top priority. If they claim they have an explosive, real or not, we had to take precautions. The rest of the Jedi are still inside. Some I believe went to secure the hangar so the Council couldn't leave with our starships. The others went to engage the Council."

Zade looked up the stairs to the temple and frowned, "You were right to evacuate the younglings."

Sarval removed his lightsaber handle from his robe and looked to Zade, "We must join those who fight in the temple."

Zade removed his dual lightsabers and nodded in response, "Yes." A slight grin fell across his face as he looked up the long stairs, "I forgot how large these stairs were."

Hub-Hud and Pice removed their own lightsabers as Pice told them, "We'll join you."

Zade shouted over to another Jedi and ordered him to let the younglings rest a few moments before taking them further down the stairway for added protection. With that the four Jedi rushed up the stairs. They had to dig into the Force to allow their bodies to run up the stairway with little fatigue. When they reached the top of the stairs they barged into the main entrance. Its was completely empty due to the evacuation. They halted as Zade asked Pice, "Where are they?"

Pice pointed the tip of her handle toward the Reconciliation quarter, "Last I heard they barred themselves in the Reconciliation quarter."

Zade became worried. The Reconciliation quarter was a section of the temple where many non-Force-users worked. Few Jedi stayed there which was probably why the Council was able to occupy it so easily. Zade was worried that the council may have slain the innocent non-Force-users when they invaded. Zade asked Pice, "Were the workers inside the quarter evacuated?"

"I don't know. I was helping the younglings." She told him.

"In that case we'll have to be cautious. They may have living shields." Zade warned.

Before Zade could begin planning on how they should enter the quarter, a voice called out to Zade. A familiar voice that made Zade's skin crawl, "_Master Rad'Hyth_..."

Zade rolled his eyes upward and sighed deeply as he turned around to see a holo-image of Adian Klypso standing with her arms hanging loosely at her sides and her hair disheveled as her image floated above the entrance's floor. Her robes were cut and scarred from laser fire. Zade shook his head in disgust, "I don't know what to say to you anymore. You and your council of apostates have tried to destroy everything you once defended."

She took her hand and pushed her hair away from her face, "We... we were betrayed by those we defended. You and your kind. I... I don't know anymore."

Zade raised an eyebrow as he walked closer to the image, "Do I detect a tone of resentment for your actions in your voice?"

Sarval walked forward and joined Zade. He pleaded with her, "You and I spent a long time on the Council together, Adian. Our moments of unison were rare but we were comrades. I never sensed this kind of darkness inside of you. You can end this."

She didn't directly respond to his statement. Instead she changed the subject, "Do you plan to join the other Jedi in the Reconciliation quarter, Master Rad'Hyth?" She didn't let him answer before interrupting, "Because you won't find me there."

Zade could feel his impatience with Adian become more and more stressed with each word spoken from her lips. He had to take a moment of meditation to calm his nerves before he continued, "Then where are you?"

Adian looked past Zade and Sarval toward the two Jedi standing behind him. Pice scowled at her. Hub-Hud looked at her with pity. She then looked back to Zade, "I alone wait in the Hall of Knighthood. Master Rad'Hyth, please come alone to face me."

"It's a trap." Pice said, "You can't trust her anymore."

"I promise with what is left of my association to the Jedi, that this is no trap." Adian said before ending the transmission.

Pice shook her head, "No way. You don't plan on listening to her? You can't go alone."

Zade looked over his shoulder to Pice, "I will. I think I know what she wants."

Sarval nodded his approval to Zade, "Yes. She is suffering. She wants an end but is unable to face it."

Pice was about to protest but Hub-Hud placed a gentle hand on her shoulder to stop Pice. Pice backed down and shrugged her shoulders, "Then what about us?"

"We'll aid the Jedi who defend the temple." Sarval told Hub-Hud and Pice.

Zade bowed to them, "I think... the Force will need to be with all of us today..."

-- -- -- -- -- --

For Adian to occupy the Hall of Knighthood was either an act to insult the Jedi or perhaps she wanted to end it where it begins. The Hall of Knighthood was where a padawan was ritually raised to the level of Jedi Knight. It was where every padawan strives to reach. It was also where the Jedi Master rank was confirmed. Zade had been here when he became both Knight and Matser. So had Adian. The circular room resembled the Jedi Council chamber only without the chairs the High Council sat at. It was a special place to most Jedi who entered it.

When Zade entered into the chamber he saw Adian sitting on her knees in the direct center of the room with her lightsaber handle laying in front of her. As he slowly walked into the room, she looked up and stared into his eyes, "Master... Zade... Welcome."

"Zade, eh?" He chuckled pitifully, "It's about time."

She forced a smile on her dejected face, "I always knew how much you hated it when I called you Master Rad'Hyth."

"Yes... I know."

"I was never kind to you during your time on the Council... or afterwards." She admitted to him but mostly to herself, "I hated when you threatened my power. When I was on the Council I was in control... of so much. I had so much power. I felt like the most important individual in the galaxy."

Her voice sounded as if she were in agony. Maybe she was. Zade folded his arms over his chest and nodded, "Yeah, I know."

She continued expressing herself to Zade, "I thrive for power. Since my early days on the Council it's been a silent obsession to me. I knew it was wrong. I knew that I was no better than the Sith but I continued with it anyways. I made deals with the Chancellor to remain in power. I surrounded myself with other Jedi that I knew were just as weak minded as I. I knew how wrong I was for doing this to the Jedi, to the Republic, to the galaxy. I knew but I did it anyways. Then I killed Errdict, I invaded the Temple. I invaded the temple?! I turned on them! But they threaten my power... I could not help myself."

Zade gently smiled to her, "You are aware of your sins. Turn back. You can always turn back. Please end this."

"I want this to end!" She spat at him, "I just want everything to end but I can't allow it. I can not allow my power to leave me. Zade you, you were the last one. The last of the pure Council members. I want you to stop me. My mind fails me. My heart fails me. The Force pollutes me."

Her inner demons were destroying her conscious. She couldn't think clearly anymore. Tears ran down her face and Zade felt for her. She was being tortured by her own desire for power. The Dark Side was enveloping her. Zade walked closer to her. Instinctively, Adian grabbed her lightsaber and switched it on. Zade stopped approaching her and moved his hands for his own lightsabers but did not take them in hand just yet. Instead he told her, "I don't have to stop you. You can do it yourself. If you couldn't, we wouldn't be talking like this. You wouldn't have this regret. I can help you."

Adian scoffed, "You are still doing this? The Jedi act. Stop trying to save me."

Zade lowered his gaze. His ability to help her may have passed. Or it may have never existed. He looked back at her with an emotionless face, "You know you have to beat this-"

"You won't end this unless I attack you. Will you?" She said as she stood up.

Zade quickly removed his lightsaber handles and held them in his hands. He ignited the yellow blades and he crossed the two sabers in front of him. He told her, "If you have really given up, if you insist on attacking the innocent, then I will end this."

She smiled as her tears stopped falling, "Then... Thank you."

Adian made a near effortless strike at Zade as he easily parried the so-called-attack and slashed his left blade forward at her neck and struck her down as quickly and as painlessly as possible. Adian's body fell forward and dropped near the center of the room. He switched his sabers off and dropped forward onto his hands and knees. Adian, the head of the rogue Council was defeated but... this wasn't what he prepared for. He was prepared for a power hungry, bloodthirsty, monster who killed needlessly. He was not ready for a wavering Jedi who pleaded for him to kill her. He felt empty.

He sat down on his butt as he reached into his robe for his vocal transmitter. He played back the message from Wennsis which made him smile even though he had to struggle to do so. Adian's desperate and demented plan of kidnapping Rasch was unsuccessful. A few moments later Sarval contacted Zade and told him of what they found in the Reconciliation quarter. They found death. The allied Jedi had already arrived at the Reconciliation quarter and had secured it. They freed every hostage. The Jedi never had to fight a single Council member or ally. That was because when the Jedi arrived, the rogues were already dead. Someone had killed them. Someone had trapped the rogue Jedi Council in a room and filled it with poisonous gas. They all died and all without a hostage killed. Sarval told Zade that Pice and Hub-Hud were still scouting the Reconciliation quarter for an explosive but neither of them expected to find one. Sarval was aiding in freeing the hostages. Some were locked in rooms or other cut off areas. Zade asked Sarval to contact Sienn and tell them that this threat was over.

When their conversation ended, Zade dropped his transmitter to the floor and looked over to Adian. His face actually broke into a smile and this time he didn't struggle to smile. There was no doubt in his mind that the one who had slain the Council and kept the hostages safe, was Adian. When she spoke to him, she was full of regret and misery over her actions. She was a proud Jedi Master drowning in a whirlpool of darkness with only a single strand of light acting as her lifeline. But she had sunk so deep into despair that she thought she couldn't get out of it. So she continued to the point of assassinating the Chancellor and invading the Jedi Temple. That must have been her breaking point though. She could no longer accept what she had become. So she killed her own doleful followers and in doing so may have saved her own hostages. Then she led him here. To the place where it all began for her. Where she once stood as a proud Jedi Knight and not a tarnished dictator. Adian wanted her last act to be one of mercy and not the genocide of innocents. In the end, what Adian had done in her lifetime was seemingly unforgivable. However, Zade felt a wave of relief that in her final moments she had reached out and clutched her final strand of that lifeline and pulled herself from the whirlpool of darkness. Even if it killed her to do so. He knew there would be many who would never be able to forgive Adian for her sins. There are two things a sinner needs. Salvation and forgiveness. Zade gave her both. He forgave her. He gave her a silent promise to give her a funeral worthy of a true Jedi. Zade knew this would be a moment he'd always remember and learn from. There is always a hope for redemption to those who have fallen to the dark.

((Author's note: The next few months may be busy ones for me. I'll soon be helping my sister and borhter-in-law move, I'm looking for a house for myself to move into which is taking up allot of my time, and I will also be starting a new job soon but that won't be taking up too much of my writing time since it's mainly around the weekends and I rarely write on the weekends anyways. So new chapters will come when they come. I try to do a new chapter every two weeks but it may be more like three weeks now. I'm not sure. It may not change at all. We'll see.))


	22. Chapter 23: Manipulation

Chapter 23: Manipulation

The Arena was abandoned. It was late night and Phyress had banned any students from entering the entire Arena floor. She stood in her throne just like she did earlier when she watched Laan fatally beat Vayne. Now however the arena was empty and there was only one entrant standing on the arena floor. Her pupil, Laan, stood in the center of the floor with his shirt removed, shoulders slumped over from exhaustion, hands bound behind his back with binders, and covered in sweat and blood. His hair was plastered to his face from the sweat. His upper torso was strewed with cuts, gashes, and bruises. His chest was raising and lowered rapidly as he struggled for air. Just then a large slab of rock shot from the ground and struck him in the back. He fell forward and his face slammed into the hard ground causing blood to fall down his forehead. Phyress sighed impatiently, "I thought you told me you wanted to learn? You have yet to make any progress."

Laan struggled to pull himself to his knees while his hands were still bound. He stared at the ground, not even taking a glimpse at her, as he got back to his feat. He walked over the the spot he was standing at before the slab hit his back. Laying at his feet were four lightsaber handles. One to his left, right, in front, and behind him. This was actually something Laan asked for. The technique of levitating and manipulating multiple lightsabers with the Force was something he had been trying to learn himself but could never master. So he asked her for help. So she bound his hands and started throwing slabs of flooring at him with her own Force powers. He was to use the lightsabers to deflect the slabs. Sort of like teaching a bird to fly by pushing it off a cliff. But so far, Laan had barely been able to get the saber handles to twitch before a slab would strike his body. He tried again but a smaller piece hit his right shoulder causing a gash to open up. Blood trickled down his arm as he cursed to himself. Phyress rolled her eyes, "Stuck on your Jedi training? Are you politely asking them to move for you? You need to demand them! Get angry! Force them to do what you demand of them! Stop being so timid."

He didn't say anything. He just nodded as another slab hit him in the same exact spot om his shoulder. Laan bit down on his lower lip and cringed as an extreme amount of pain shot through his body. Phyress let out an amused laugh. A part of her was enjoying this. Laan was just getting frustrated with himself. Why couldn't he get this? Everything else came so easy to him but this was so difficult. He closed his eyes and concentrated everything onto those four sabers. Another slab hit him in the back but he paid no mind to it. He just kept thinking about those four sabers. Eventually, he sensed another slab coming for his face. He instinctively winced in anticipation of it's impact but the impact didn't come. He opened his eyes and saw the slab hovering in front of his face. The instant his eyes opened the slab continued on it's path and struck him in the nose. She had played a little trick on him. Pyress laughed loudly as Laan recoiled from the blow. Laan's brow fell and he grit his teeth as he concentrated on the same slab that struck his nose and flung it back at her with the Force. She simply put her hand up and Force pushed the oncoming slab away from her in into the empty stands. A cunning smile crept across her face, "Why was that so easy to manipulate but those those four little sticks cause you so much trouble?" Laan didn't respond. She continued, "It's because you over think them. It's the stain the Jedi teachings have left on your mind. They make the lightsaber sound like some holy artifact. Something to hold precious. In reality, it's just a tool. It may be complex to construct but it's replaceable. Put it out of your mind."

Laan nodded before he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. He could feel a surge through the Force as two slabs came at him. One to his right and one behind him. This time his mind seemed to click together. He unleashed a barrier around his body that pushed against the slabs, keeping them a couple of feet away from his body. Phyress pushed harder trying to get the slabs to smash into his body but Laan kept the barrier up. Meanwhile, he reached out and levitated the four lightsabers around his body, chest high. He opened his eyes and let out a loud cry as the sabers quickly ignited their ruby blades with the blades facing away from him and in the blink of an eye they spun around his body like a buzzsaw. All Phyress could see was a ruby red circle of light around Laan as the blades spun and sliced through the slabs. She smiled and let the remains of the slabs drop to the floor. Laan halted the sabers from moving and turned three of them off and let them drop back to the ground. With the remaining saber he levitated it behind him and sliced through his binders, freeing him. He turned around grabbed the levitating lightsaber in his right hand. He switched it off and held it in hand. Phyress stood up and clapped her hands together a single time, "Not bad. Not bad. Another quick turnaround. This will help you when you fight the girl. She can hide herself well but if you can do that again she'll never be able get close enough to attack you. You have many unique weapons in your arsenal, Laan. Use them well and she'll be no match for you."

Laan nodded, "I think I should face her now."

"Now?"

He shrugged his shoulders and winced as he did so, "Well after my body has healed some from this session. But yeah. As soon as possible."

"I'm not so sure you are ready. More training is still needed." Phyress told him.

He shook his head, "Yes, but the more we delay and train, they do the same. Lwyn and I used to be on a similar level of ability. I've just taken a step higher so we should confront them while I remain a level higher."

"Nonsense." She dismissed the idea, "That girl has reached her full potential already. It doesn't matter how much she trains. She'll never grow stronger. "

Laan frowned and pointed the butt of his saber at her, accusing, "You are letting ego come before wisdom, Master. Don't underestimate Lwyn. She's stronger than you wish to believe."

She curled her upper lip into a faint snarl, "Watch that shrill tongue of yours, boy. I need your body and mind, not your voice. Keep with this and I'll slice the tongue from your cheeks."

Laan stood their with clenched jaw and fists, "Master... I know that now is the time."

Phyress remained silent for a few moments before finally nodding her head, "I suppose the sooner we rid ourselves of those two, the sooner we can finally reclaim and reestablish Hyarsythe."

"Yes, Master." Laan agreed. He then sighed and began walking away, "Well then. I should probably heal myself up."

As Laan walked away, Phyress remained there and thought to herself. Laan seemed somewhat uncontrollable. Perhaps harsher discipline would be in order? Maybe....

-- --- --- --- ---

Inside of Phyress's room, Laan sat on his knees with his hands folded on his lap and his eyes closed. He was meditating and healing his wounds from the training session from earlier. The aquarium wall was open and two of the Swyren creatures were swimming just outside the wall. They were drawn to the Force energy he was giving off as he meditated. As he sat there he could feel as though he could understand what they were thinking. They hated being kept in the aquarium. He could relate. He hated being stuck down in Hyarsythe for so long. It was a glorified prison. The room's doors opened and Phyress entered into the room. As she saw him meditate she scowled, "You are using the teachings of the Jedi again?"

"I told you," Laan said as he opened his eyes but remained in meditation, "I'm not a Jedi... but I'm not Sith either. I won't limit myself to what powers I can and cannot use. I'm already feeling up to fighting strength again."

"Well that is good indeed." Phyress said as she walked over to her center chair and hit a button causing the aquarium walls the close. The Swyren let out a faint wail as they closed. She then sat down and turned her head to look at him, "I issued the challenge to Ollose and his pet."

"Such formality amongst enemies." Laan said with a smirk as he stood up from his meditation, "Where?"

"At the Arena."

"I don't want a public spectacle." Laan demanded as he picked up a long, black jacket that was laying near his side. He put it on over his now fully healed body. It fell down around to his knees. Strapped to the inside of the jacket were four lightsaber handles.

She shook her head, "No. The Arena will be empty. I don't want any outside interference like last time. Besides, I don't think a crowded Arena would be big enough to contain this battle."

"I want that entire floor on complete lock down. No one is allowed to enter except for us." Laan demanded.

Phyress was growing tired of this, "How dare you make so many demands of me. Boy, you have a serious problem remembering your place."

"Sorry, Master." He apologized, "I suppose I am over eager. I just want everything to go smoothly."

She didn't respond to him right away. Instead she took her time and made him wait to show dominance. After she felt she was silent long enough, she folded her hands under her chin, "The Arena floor will be shut off from everyone. The less bodies the better. As it is, it will be difficult for you to read her movements through the Force without any added bodies to distract you. You must always be on guard against her Force masking abilities."

"She's emotionally unstable." Laan said with a slight smirk, "Her mask will have enough cracks in it for me to see through well enough. A simple reminder of Vayne's death could be enough to completely shatter it."

Phyress smiled, "Just make sure you kill her more quickly than you did the Nautolan. Don't take any risks."

"Oh." Laan raised an upper eyebrow, "I can promise you this will be as quickly as needed."

-- --- --- --- ---

Lwyn, or Zecarpse stood in the center of the Arena with Ollose pacing back and forth directly behind her. He was steaming mad as he balled his hands into fists. He was ready to ignite his blade and use it on some poor soul. But he would have to wait. Zecaprse looked back at him with emotionless eyes, "Something the matter, Master?"

"Late!" He snapped at her, "It's just like the snake of a woman to declare a time and place and then be late for it."

"She dose it because she knows it angers you." She simply stated.

Ollose reached behind her and grabbed her by the neck. He spun her around and pulled her close into a snarl, "Don't you ever speak to me in that way!"

She pulled out of his grip and turned her back to him again. She barley put enough effort in her words to mouth out, "Sorry."

Ollose was seething at her, "And whats this? You are lifeless! How do you expect to fight like this?"

"What's wrong, Ollose?" A voice said from behind them. Ollose turned to see Phyress and Laan entering into the Arena from an entrance tunnel directly behind them. Phyress continued, "Did your cat loose it's fangs?"

Zecarpse turned her head over her shoulders and looked at Laan who had an arrogant smile on his face. Suddenly her demeanor changed from a lifeless doll to an angered fighter. She removed her lightsaber and ignited the crimson blade. Ollose had to quickly reach over to her and grab her by the back of her hair and gave a violent tug, "Not yet!"

As Laan and Phyress walked past them and over to the opposite side of the Arena floor Laan began to chuckle, "Don't you think your anger is a bit hypocritical? I mean you were the first one to attack a 'friend'. Albeit your approach may have been less physical then mine." She bit down on her lower lip as she tired to restrain herself. But Laan continued as he reached the end of the floor and turned back to face her. He looked around the arena with a cocksure smile and nod, "Wow. Sure is reminiscent... ain't it?"

She shouted over to him, "I should have beaten you to death when we fought last."

"Ohhh yeah." Laan said with a snicker, "I guess there was that too. No, I wasn't talking about when you and I fought. I was talking about when Vayne's chest was crushed right about..." Laan pointed to his feet, "Where I am standing right now."

Phyress continued walking over to where her private seat always stood in the Arena. She sat down and looked across the Arena at Ollose. He walked to the side of and stood next to Zecarpse. Master and Aprentice. Ollose pointed the tip of his lightsaber handle over to Phyress, "After your boy is dead, you are next."

She had no response to his idle threat. She just folded her hands under her chin. With a confident and brimming smile she watched and waited. Laan unbuttoned his long black jacket. As he did, he tilted his head to the side and stared into Zecarpse's eyes as he told her, "All these battles. All these pointless duels..." He then slid his right arm from it's sleeve and gripped the left sleeve with his right hand, "This bit is over!" He shouted as he quickly yanked his jacket from his arm and whipped the jacket up and over his head. As it twisted in the air above his head he extended his free arm into the air. Using the Force he concentrated on the four lightsaber handles still strapped to the inside of the jacket. Zecaprse quickly realized Laan's sudden action and ignited her own lightsaber. Just then the four lightsabers ignited and escaped from the jacket straps. A small smile crept across Laan's face as he reached out and grasped the four blades with his mind. He took them and flung them through the air it their intended and unsuspecting target. She wasn't even able to react before the four blades pierced her body. Two in the chest... One in the stomach... and one through her faceplate... Phyress Lokindr fell forward in her throne with the four crimson lightsaber blades protruding from her body.

Ollose's jaw dropped and let out a gasp as he watched Laan's sabers fly.... and strike down his own master. As he saw Phyress's body go limp he couldn't help but smile despite his confusion. He opened his mouth to question what he saw but Zecarpse quickly spun her lightsaber around and cleaved it through his torso, slicing him in two. He gasped again but this time would be his last as he could feel the upper part of his body begin to fall backwards. He hit the floor with a thud as he gazed up at the ceiling. He felt pain everywhere and his heart was racing but he couldn't understand it. He saw Zecarpse look down at him. He tried to call out to her but nothing but inaudible spurts escaped his lips. He could only think, '_Zecarpse... answer me." _He couldn't understand it. What was going on? "_Zecarpse_?' His vision was blurring. He could barley make out her outline as he stared at her... "_Zecarpse?... L-Lwyn?" _His vision fell black and his body became motionless. He couldn't comprehend his death and his final thought was confusion. Lwyn leaned over the upper half of his body and shook her head. She wasn't convinced so she made a final stab with her lightsaber to his chest to make sure he was good and dead. When their was no reaction to her stab, she was convinced. She stood back up with a newly found smile on her face, "...Whew..."

She turned and looked over to Laan, to me, as I walked over to Phyress' throne. I reached my hand out and summoned the lightsabers to turn off and levitated them safely to the ground. Phyress's body slumped forward as her hands and arms fell forward down to her feet. I reached over and pulled her body back into a sitting position with her back against the back of the throne. Most of her face was hidden behind one of her trademark faceplate. But her mouth was still exposed. She still had a confident and brimming smile on her face. She probably never even realized she was facing her fate's end by my blades. A quick death was probably for the best. I felt sorry for her. She was a sad and pathetic person. She was so egotistical and confident that she was in control, it made our job so much easier. The job I set out to do in the first place. The job of finally destroying Hyarsythe.

At times I didn't know what I was going to do or even if I would succeed. But I had to try. It was a constant struggle but it all came to me the moment after I killed Shirtless. I fought possessed. I felt so much rage that killing, down right destroying him felt glorious. The dark side and Sithrimi can alter one's will and mind but I knew there was something more to it. It came so suddenly that I realized that I was being played with like a toy.

Someone was manipulating me through the Sithrimi and the Force. Once I realized that, it was obvious to me that Phyress was the manipulator. As she told me later, from day one when our thoughts and minds joined in that final 'test', she never quite left. She could still feel and play with my emotions. She could sense me. Only, she didn't know that I had realized that. From that point on, once I was aware, I could sense when she was tapped into my conscious and when she wasn't. I was never quite sure how much of me should could read. My emotions, yes. But my thoughts, what I said, could she hear those? I wasn't sure. So when I knew she was attached to me, I would communicate with Vayne and Lwyn as an act and hoped she couldn't tell the difference from an act and the truth. Which I don't believe she could. When I knew she wasn't attached to me, that was when the three of us would break the act and work on our true intentions. I got the idea to turn use Lokindr's manipulation against her and with added suggestions from Vayne and Lwyn we came up with a solid plan. Even when I wasn't sure about something, the Force told me it would work out in the end. So I put my trust in what the Force told me. Major roles were needed and all three of us had to play those given to us. When we felt our plan was complete, we took our roles.

The first step was Lwyn joining with Ollose. He already had an eye on her and when she came to him, asking to become his apprentice, he didn't hesitate. Sided with him, Lwyn carried on her role of his apprentice and even leaked to him false pieces of information. I know this couldn't have been easy for her because she had to play her role the longest and it was the most emotionally draining of the three. I can only imagine the dark places her mind was taken to at points. But she performed perfectly through out. During this time Vayne and I acted innocent and unknowing to their plot. I wasn't sure how long it would take, but thanks to De'Kyte's abrasiveness towards Phyress it didn't take long for Phyress to expose Lwyn's alliance with Ollose with hopes of having me side with her.

When she did, my role began. I sided with Phyress while Lwyn's relationship with Ollose only grew after she assassinated Bast. Bast's assassination wasn't planned from the beginning but came as an added benefit and only made our jobs easier. However, the assassination of De'Kyte was planned. Even the Dark Lord of the Sith knew De'Kyte's fate when they sent her to Hyarsythe. Her death solidified my place at Lokindr's side and also produced one of the most valuable tools in all of this. Her datapad. At the time I had no idea how much information was on there, but it was allot. And when Phyress took me to the communication room on the 6th floor to speak with the Dark Lord, its purpose only expanded.

When we entered into the room the first thing I noticed was a group of small computes off to the side that acted as the relay of information from Hyarsythe up to the head of this structure. The hacker that I am, knew that I could take the datapad and hook it up to these computers. I was in limited in time but I was able to configure the datapad to act as an added relay. Whenever Hyarsythe would begin communications with another computer, the datapad would almost act as a virus, downloading information from this opposite computer. And then, Force be with me, Phyress communicated with a structure she called the, 'Risa'griez Citadel'. In simple words, as soon as we began communications with the Citadel, the datapad began downloading top secret information, blueprints, and codes from the Citadel's computer until the datapad's memory was completely filled. This single datapad probably had more than double the information against the Sith then all of Republic intelligence.

I had what I needed to begin my crippling of the Sith, but I still needed to destroy Hyarsythe once and for all. So I continued my role as Lokindr's dark knight just as Lwyn continued to serve Ollose. We grew closer with our, 'Masters'. At first I'm sure they didn't trust us. But as the feud between Phyress and Ollose grew and grew, the blinder they became. They were so convinced that we had submitted to their 'greatness', they forgot that maybe they shouldn't be so trusting. I think Phyress always doubted me, but she could never bring herself to lose me in her fight against Ollose and ultimately to the Dark Lord.

Then came Vayne's role. Perhaps not the most difficult role, but by far the most unpleasant. When we were planning, he volunteered for his position in our rebellion. His role all began when the two of us faced off in the Arena. Where I used my 'Force Point' attacks to disable him, and eventually kill him. Or, at least that was the belief we were going for. In reality, I used an analog for my Force Point attacks. Earlier I had taken shattered pieces of one of the training stun sticks and crushed the outside skinning, the part with the poisonous barbs, into a powder. Mix the powder in with a normal Force Push and Vayne's body reacts as if I had hit him with a Force Point so hard that his limbs fell limp. The biggest part of the Arena duel was getting the barbs around his chest to simulate that I had broken his ribs. He really was in pain and struggled for air as his chest muscles tightened around his lungs and it was hard to watch. But he'd live.

Perhaps though the biggest step of Vayne's role was tricking the medical droid. The three of us thought about it but no matter how much we tried, we couldn't think of anything to use to trick the droid. Then I realized I was going at this the wrong way. I didn't have to trick the droid. I just had to give a completely new way of thinking. So my hacker instincts took over again. I took the droid A.I I stole from the cafeteria serving droid that got pummeled by that insane Wookie student and did some reprogramming. All I did was erase everything on the A.I, and added information on what to do for Nautolan patients. Diagnose them with a fatal lung collapse, and then pack them up and ship them up to the surface via the train. After I programed the chip I made a late night visit to the medical droid. Disabled it, added my own chip in addition to it's own memory, and switched the bugger back on. Vayne could have been doing cartwheels in the Doird's office and it's A.I would still be telling it that Vayne was dead. Then the droid would pack Vayne's 'corpse' into a breathable box and ship it up to the surface on the next departing train. I'm sure the trip was long and incredibly uncomfortable but I'm sure, I hope, he did alright.

The next part was all on Vayne and I hope... no, I know he succeeded. When he reached the, 'head' of the base his job was to take it by force. By taking out every trooper he would take the entire upper section of Hyarsythe. That way we could secure communications and make sure we had no more unwelcome guests. As well as one more important step that comes a little bit later. Call it the Force, call it coincidence, but just a few hours ago I heard from Phyress herself that due to the invasion on Coruscant the head was left with only 10% the normal troops. Vayne's success seemed imminent.

With Vayne on his own, that left the past step. Lwyn and my betrayal of our, 'Masters'. As I've said before, Phyress and Ollose were blinded by their own ignorance and necessity. This point was only further made by the smile that still remained on Phyress' dead, cold lips. By the time my sabers struck her down, she still thought she was in total control. As for Ollose, even after seeing me strike down Phyress, he never thought to doubt, 'Zecarpse'. Heck, even after he was sliced in two he probably never even understood what had happened. Maybe I was a little disappointed by the fact that neither of them understood their fates. That they died still thinking that we were on their side and perhaps that they were still in control. P art of me wanted them to die knowing that we had won, they had lost. But I had to push that part of me out of my head. I didn't want to think that way.

As I looked at Phyress and thought back on the events that led here, I felt two gentle arms wrap around me from behind. Lwyn hugged onto my back and sighed, "That was... " She looked back at Ollose's body... or body parts, "... Well worth the wait."

I smiled and turned around and hugged her back. It felt... good. To drop this veil I'd been wearing since the first time I entered Hyarsythe. Playing such a dark role was stressful to the body and mind. Those roles we played were just not who we are. I finally felt like Laan again. Not Ceddes. Not a Sith Neophyte. Not Lokindr's apprentice. Just Laan. I took it one step further as I leaned over and kissed her forehead, "The hard part is over, yeah?"

She leaned up and kissed me briefly on the lips. She pulled back with a wink and a smile, "Yeah. C'mon. Vayne's probably lonely up top. Lets do what we have to do and get out of here."

A gave her a cocksure grin, "One last stop before we reach the top."

She gave me a confused look, "What? Is there something you're not telling me?"

I smirked, "Don't worry, 'Zecarpse' it's just a little side trip. The next train doesn't leave for a little while. We have time."

She shivered, "Ugh. Don't call me that!" I chuckled and she gave me a sharp jab in the chest. She then looked over at Phyress' body, "Don't you think we should hide the bodies. I know Phyress banned the students but what if a trooper enters prematurely and finds them? That could ruin everything."

I nodded and clicked my tongue, "Very good idea. Why don't you take care of that and I'll go do what I have to do." Before she could respond I quickly darted off, "Good! I'll meet you back here when I'm done."

I left her standing there with a dumb look on her face and a curse under her breath aimed at me as I left her to do the dirty work of cleaning up the bodies.

--- --- ---

The doors to the sixth floor control room opened and I walked in. The droid that saw through the maintenance and up keeping of the control room turned and welcomed me, "Master Laan, Welcome. Where is Phy-"

I reached over and Force pushed it's head right off it's metal shoulder brackets. The droid's body crumpled to the ground as I approached the main computer. It was already on so I did a quick sweep of my fingers across the controls that brought up a screen for the facility's lock and security system. I did a quick run through and set a timer for every door in Hyarsythe. The timer was for the doors. In exactly one day I set it so every door, hatch, and movable wall would open up. We were going to flood this place and, unfortunately, anyone left inside of it. With the doors open, the flooding will be quicker but the main reason I was doing this was so that the Swyren, my buddies, locked in Lokindr's aquarium would be able to escape Hyarsythe after it's been flooded and would no longer be locked in that prison.

While I was here I made a little call up top. I sent a message up to the 'head'. I waited before the screen blinked on and I was welcomed with a very friendly face. I smiled and gave a pleased nod of my head, "Vayne. I'm glad to see you're still alive."

Vayne smiled back at me through the screen and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah. There were only five Sith Troopers up here when I arrived so it was easy pickins'. The train ride up here was hell though! Do you remember how uncomfortable that trip was in chairs? Well try doing it in a box!"

I chuckled at him, "Well you volunteered for it."

He sighed and put his hands out in front of him, "I know.... I know. But still..."

"Did you send the message? Is everything set?" I asked eagerly.

Vayne smiled widely, "Everything is working perfectly. The Force was with us, yeah? The 'package' is coming down in the next train. Along with a little surprise for you."

I raised an eyebrow, "I... don't like the sound of that."

"Well.. we'll see." Vayne laughed, "Oh, hey! Lwyn?"

"She's fine. Everything worked perfectly down here too."

"Good, good!" Vayne clapped his hands together a single time, "So, get up here will ya?!"

"Right, I'll see you later Vayne." I said as I ended the transmission. I backed away from the computer and let out a mighty sigh. So much relief just vanished. I was so hyped to have finally ended this that I couldn't even feel the dark presence of the Sithrimi anymore. It was still there but I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of here with Lywn and see sky again. Maybe go somewhere where we can get some sun. A nice little paradise... Ah, damn. I'm getting ahead of myself.

It wasn't over yet. Far from it. But I just wanted to take this moment for myself and reflect. A little while ago I was a mechanic/hacker working in a little rusted shop on Lanoul. Next thing I know we get a visit from the Sith, I take them out, and get a crazy idea to strike them a blow by infiltrating their own academy. Boom, I get a couple of friends and we cook up a nasty little plot built off of brilliant planning, our unique gifts, a little bit of Force guidance... and lots of dumb luck. But as the Jedi say, there is no luck but rather the Force. Personally after all of this, I believe in both.

--- --- ---

((((Authors notes and updates:

So A few things... First of all I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I'm am moving to a new house and it's just been allot of work. It been work on the house, rest, eat, work some more, sleep. Maybe I'd play a game or two of MLB 09 to relax in between but not much time to write. So I'll be moved in by the end of this month which is like a week and a half... plus the work I'll have to do once I finally live there.... but then I can do it at my own pace. And I prefer to add a new chapter every two weeks but I doubt I'll be able do that this time. Maybe three weeks? I dunno. I can't make any promises. But believe me I can't wait until I can start writing regularly again. Pretty soon.

Second, so this chapter had a pretty big plot twist in it. One that I've been planing since like chapter 5.. maybe even sooner than that. I couldn't wait until I got to this chapter cuz I thought it would be so great... but then when I actually wrote it I felt kind of meh... Was this really as great as I thought it would be? I didn't think so. But then when I read it back again I went back to liking it again. So for anyone who has read this chapter I would really like to hear what you thought of this plot twist in the reviews. I know some of you have said that you wouldn't post anymore reviews and I respect that, but I'd really appreciate if you added to this. But PLEASE DO NOT POST SPOILERS IN YOUR REVIEWS! Please! I have a friend who just started reading this story and I know he checks the reviews so I don't want him to read the spoilers by mistake. So maybe if you liked this chapter in your reviews post "Yea" if you didn't like it post "Nay"... if you are indifferent post "Meh".

Third, For some reason I had some problems with OpenOffice when I wrote this chapter. I accidentally hit one button, yeah just one button, on my keyboard and all the text vanished. I got it all back but I'm paranoid that something got messed up. So yeah.... I hope nothing got messed up. So thats all... Thank You.)))


	23. Chapter 24: Surface

((Note: I am reposting this chapter with a subtle difference from my first post. I decided to drop a rather, admittingly, weak story angle. The only thing I did change is Laan's nickname.))

Chapter 24: Surface

Hyarsythe, first floor, the train station up to the surface. A group of five Sith Troopers gathered around atop of the station's boarding platform as they waited for the daily train to arrive. One trooper, the tallest of the group, stretched his arms behind his back and yawned. After he finished his yawn he threw his arms back down to his sides, "Ugh! I hate this damn train ride. It's slow, boring, and kills my head."

Another trooper, the lone female of the group, laughed at the taller one, "Well our scheduled time on this underwater trash heap is over and we finally get to leave. I'm sure we'll be sent directly to the invasion forces at Coruscant. Maybe you won't be so bored when a Jedi is cleaving your skull from your neck."

The tall trooper scoffed at her, "If the Jedi are anything like these whiny little students here, I won't have anything to worry about."

"Idiot." Another trooper with a gravely voice scolded the taller one, "If you think the Jedi are as weak as they young ones here, you won't even live long enough to remove your blaster from your holster."

The taller one shoved the gravely trooper in the chest, "Don't you call me an idiot."

The other three troopers just stood there and watched the two argue. As they traded insults and threats, the sounds of the train could be heard as it neared it's approach. One trooper shouted towards the two, "Just shut up. The train is almost here. You guys can ride in separate cars. Just keep silent for the sake of the rest of us."

A moment later the station's entryway doors opened and Lwyn and I entered onto the platform together. As I walked in I noticed the train coming down from the angled tunnel and began leveling off as it reached the straight away. I pointed that out to Lwyn, "See. Perfect timing. And you thought we'd be late."

She gave me a dirty look, "Yeah, just barley! A few minutes later and it would have left without us."

"But we weren't late and he would have waited for us anyways-"

"Hey!" The tall trooper called toward us, "Students aren't allowed down here without permission."

"Yes." The gravely one added, "Not even Phyress Lokindr's apprentice is an exception."

"Oh?" I acted shocked, "But I do. I do have permission. Haven't you heard?"

"I know for a fact that nobody besides Troopers are permitted to use the train today." Another one told me.

Hmm.... these guys must have been scheduled to leave Hyarsythe before Vayne took control of the 'Head'. Otherwise, I very much doubt that Vayne would be allowing any new transmissions of orders. Oh well, it was a minor obstacle. Before I responded I focused on a lightsaber handle tucked under my jacket. I made sure I had a mental lock of the saber because I was sure I was going to need it very soon. I then gave them a sly grin, "C'mon you guys. I have my orders from my Master to get on that train. We're being sent to Coruscant and trust me, they need the two of us there allot more than the pitiful five of you. So why don't we all just get on the train together and pretend this conversation never happened?"

Just on time the train rolled over to the platform and stared slow to a halt. Lwyn pointed to the train, "See? No need for us to fight. The train is here and all is well."

As the train completely halted and locked into the tracks, the Troopers armed their blasters and pointed them at us. The tallest Trooper pointed his blaster at my chest and then to the doors and then back at me, "I don't want to explain to Lokindr why I had to blow her prized apprentice's head off. So just turn away now."

During our little stand off, it had gone unnoticed that the train doors had opened and a single female Sith trooper popped her helmeted head from the train door. She curiously cocked her head to the side as she watched the stand off, "Oh? What is all of this then?"

I noticed the sixth trooper and decided that talk was over. These troopers had to be taken out and taken out now. Before more of them showed up. I made a small twitch of my hand towards my lightsaber handle the very moment the sixth trooper reached to the side of her utility belt and removed a thermal detonator. By the time my finger tips had pulled away my jacket flap to reach for my lightsaber, the Trooper had activated the detonator and threw it. I was ready to Force Push the explosive back at her but I noticed that it wasn't' thrown very far. In fact it was thrown directly into the center of the five Sith Troopers. The Troopers didn't even notice the deadly device in the middle of them. I raised a fascinated eyebrow, "Huh..."

BOOM! The detonator did just as its name implied and detonated. A deadly burst of energy shot within a 5 meter radius and sent the five Troopers flying in random directions. The gravely man was sent flying forward between Lwyn and I while two other were sent flying back and onto the train tracks. The other female and tall guy didn't go very far. They just fell to the ground. Lwyn looked over to me, "What was that all about?"

I just shrugged my shoulders. Then the female trooper in the train poked her head out again. Through the visor she looked into my eyes and laughed, "Hmh-heh. Pretty pathetic."

That voice. Even through her helmet I knew who it was. The silky-smooth voice with a slight touch of flirtatious intent and a gigantic tone of arrogance. I sighed and rubbed the back of my head, "Hotshot..."

Lwyn was still in the defensive with her hand rested on her lightsaber hilt. She looked to me and asked, "Hotshot?"

The Trooper removed her helmet and let her long golden, orange, and red streaked hair fall down around her pale skinned neck and shoulders. Her brown eyes stared into mine. Her mouth curled into a massive and cocky grin. She then began to strut out from the train towards us. Lwyn made a move for her lightsaber but the trooper put her hands up Lwyn, signaling for her to stop, "Whoa, girly. I'm on your side now."

Lwyn looked to me again, "She is?"

I regretfully nodded my head, "...She is."

The trooper walked over to Lwyn. She eyed Lwyn head-to-toe before extending her hand toward Lwyn, "Don't hurt me now. I came here to answer a plea for help."

Lwyn hesitantly shook her hand, "Umm.... okay?"

"Name's Verru Homler. My friends call me 'HotShot'. Y-you can just call me Verru. At least for now." Verru told her.

Lwyn released her handshake, "Alright... _Verru_. Just call me Lwyn."

Amused with herself, Verru smiled, "Laan and Lwyn? You sound like you're twins or something."

I grunted, "I should have realized that Vayne's _surprise_ would be nothing but trouble."

Verru didn't understand who I was talking about at first, "Vayne?... Oh! Frogface! Yeah he was eager to get rid of me."

Lwyn shook her head in confusion, "Whoa, wait. Can someone please tell me whats going on?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Well... she is part of the plan... sort of. I just wasn't expecting to see you down here."

"Oooh. I see," Lwyn smiled at Verru, "So you're one of Laan's old bounty hunter buddies?"

"We haven't been bounty hunters for years. We're Freedom Fighters." Verru grumbled to Lwyn as if Lwyn somehow personally insulted her. I don't think those two liked each other very much. But then again that was Verru's way when she first meets someone new. She has a very abrasive personality but she usually softens towards someone after they've proven themselves.

I stepped between then and subtly separated them and changing the subject when I asked Verru, "So will _it_ get the job done?"

Verru pointed her thumb back towards the train, "When we arrived we checked how thick the base's tower was. It's pretty thick down here but less than the hallway up the tower its more than thin enough. When we reach that point we'll just get Frogface up top to stop the train. We plant the _explosives_ in the middle of the tower and set the timer for about ten hours. By then we'll be long gone and then when they go off... they'll explode and rip the tower into two pieces. Thus, flooding the ocean waters down into lower Hyarsythe level while the top side loses it's support and collapses into the seas. Everything and everyone left on Hyarsyhte will be lost in the seas forever."

And that was the final step. When Vayne reached the Head and took it away from the Sith I had him instantly send a recorded message to a ship named the, "Zellblack Gravesite". The flagship of my old Freedom Fighting days. My recorded message was directed towards the leader, Illune "Hellspawn" Homler. Verru's father. Basic I cashed in a major favor they owed me and ordered myself a large explosive capable of destroying an army base from the inside. I knew that no matter what they were doing, if they were still alive after these past months, that they'd answer my request. When I left them under good terms Illune made a promise to me that he owed me one and that I could cash it in any time I needed it. I put allot of faith that he would keep that promise. And it looks like he didn't hesitate to do so. I had to admit, it was good to see HotShot again. Though I would have preferred it was anyone else because it made things kind of awkward considering Verru was my first and only girlfriend before Lwyn... ugh... Very awkward indeed. I reached over and gently patted Verru on her shoulder, "No time to waste then."

Verru grinned at me, "Yes. Look at us. 'HotShot' and 'StormWind' together again."

"StormWind?" Lwyn asked me with a slight grin.

"Umm... yeah." I said embarrassed, "It's not like I chose the name."

Lwyn shook her head, "No. I like it."

Verru turned and started walking towards the train. With a high tone of attitude she called back to Lwyn, "_Maybe_ if you work hard enough you can earn a name too. Hmm... _maybe_... maybe not..."

Lwyn squinted at the back of Verru and mumbled, "Bet I could beat the color right off your head. We'll see who the Hotshot is."

"Oh boy." I murmured to myself. This was going to be an interesting trip. If the extreme amount of water pressure wasn't enough to give me a headache, HotShot would get the job done.

Verru stopped inside the train's entryway and turned back to us. She had an uneasy look on her face, "Hey, you guys... umm... can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" Rarely have I ever seen her look so uneasy.

"Is it just me or... dose it feel very.. I don't know... I just don't like the way this place feels."

"You're probably feeling the effects Sithrimi." I explained, "Even those who aren't sensitive to the Force can usually feel it. I'm sure you're not used to feeling anything like this so it has to be pretty unsettling for you."

"So you two.... and Frogface up there have been around this your entire time down here?"

"Yeah."

She nodded and gave Lwyn a nod of respect. Even if it was just a little bit. But it was a pretty good start. Together we boarded the train and headed to the front car. There Verru showed us a silver box about the size of one of the bench seats inside the train. Verru giddily chuckled and rubbed her hands together, "Here she is. This cost us allot. We were keeping it for the perfect occasion and well.... I guess the time is now."

"Whats inside?" Lwyn asked.

Verru walked over to the chest an opened it up. There laying in tight and secure foam padding was a cylindrical shaped bomb about the size of my forearm. Verru leaned over and rubbed the metal casing as if it were a baby's cheek. She looked back at us with a wide smile, "This is a nameless bomb made special. This is the only one of it's kind. Made for us by a Toydarian explosive expert as payment during our bounty hunting days."

"So thats what was in that box... huh." My jaw dropped a bit, "Geez! I remember sitting on that box when it was kept in the hanger. You're telling me I was sitting on a bomb?"

"Yessir." She laughed before turning her attention to Lwyn, "Have you ever seen a seismic charge explode?"

"Can't say as I have." Lwyn answered.

"It's like a tiny star dying." Verru explained to her, "When they go off a blast on energy expands in a circular radius before collapsing back into itself. As it collapses it sucks in even the sound around it before... BOOM!"

"A seismic charge?" I questioned, "One that size won't be strong enough to destroying the walls of a tower. Chargers are used for small fighters or single targets or something. Not this."

She gave me an evil glare, "You don't think I know that?! Thats only half the bomb. You see when it sucks in it's own sound and then explodes, it shoots the sound back out again. Sort of like a deadly supersonic. When that super sonic hits the steel walls it'll reverberate and greatly weaken that steel for a short period of time. Built in center of this charge is a second bomb. Just a pure explosive. After the steel is weakened-"

I smiled as I got it, "Then the second explosive goes off and tears through the steel like paper."

"Exactly."

"Pretty clever."

"That's a Toydarian for you."

Just then I heard Vayne's voice through speakers built into the train, "Hey! Are you guys ready or not?"

"Hey Vayne!" Lwyn cheerfully welcomed his voice.

"We're all set down here, Frogface!" Verru called out to him.

"..." Vayne was silent for a second before addressing me, "I'm glad she's your problem now."

"Vayne, You know where to stop the train?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to stop you just a bit above the halfway point. That way you'll be able to plant the bomb where the walls are thinner and there it won't be too much pressure on your heads for you guys to do your work."

"Good thinking."

"Thanks. Well here we go. I'll see you guys at the top. I should go now. I need to monitor the skies and make sure we don't get any unwelcome visitors."

"Bye Vayne." Lwyn said.

"Later Lwyn." And with that he ended the transmission and the train started moving.

Lwyn sat down in one of the seats and I sat down next to her. Verru came over and sat down across from us. She smiled as she looked at the two of us, "You're friend up their sure has been working hard. Since the time I arrived in my ship and to the time I left to come down here he really hasn't left the monitors."

"Vayne is very dependable." I told her, "When I was down here and met Vayne and Lwyn I knew that I would have to put my trust in them. And despite our painful journey they haven't let me down."

"I'm surprised you put your faith in Sith-trainees. No offense Lwyn. But we've been fighting that type for years. Laan here more than any of us. I'm just.... surprised is all."

Lwyn shook her head, "No offense taken. I understand. Vayne and I were both victims of the silver tongue of the Sith. They promised us what we thought we wanted most but by the time we realized they were full of fodder we were already in too deep. That was until Laan essentially saved us."

"I could tell almost instantly that they weren't Sith." I told Verru before slumping back into my seat and hanging my head forward. I didn't want to admit it out loud but I was more of a Sith than any of them. Manipulated or not, I still killed Shirtless out of fury. I gave into darker thoughts more than once. If I didn't have Vayne and Lwyn counting on me... I probably would have given into Phyress's offer of apprenticeship. But when they put their trust in me it was like they gave me immunity to the dark side. As long as they were there for me, I was going to be there for them. I looked over to Lwyn and smiled. It was more accurate that they saved me more than I saved them.... as sappy as that sounds.

Verru noticed me smiling at her and chuckled, "Ah... I see how it is."

"Hmm? What dose that mean?" I asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders and played dumb, "Oh, nothing..."

"So... Verru..." Lwyn changed the subject, "Why don't you tell me how Laan got that name of his? StormWind?"

________\-**V**-/________

Master Sarval-Styr and Zade sat together in a local transport ship headed towards a nearby medical facility where Annoli and Wennsis had taken Rasch after his rescue. Zade just sat their with a limp and exhausted body. Sarval chuckled, "Sometimes no amount of meditation can cure this type of stress, eh?"

Zade smiled. He couldn't help but smile. Maybe a smile would lift his spirits, "You know... maybe the first thing we should do when we reestablish the council is mandate a nice, long, vacation."

"A Jedi's work is never done." Sarval sighed.

Zade sighed even louder, "Yeah..."

"I must say your padawan seems like she's been set on the right path. You must be proud."

"Yes. I am. Though, Master Borru should be the most proud."

"Master Borru was a victim of the previous council's lust for power and need for control. We must be certain to never allow that to happen again."

Zade sat up straight, "Jedi are far from perfect. Our history proves that. All we can do is keep our currant generation stable and teach the next generation to learn from our mistakes and have faith in them." Zade reached over and patted Sarval on the knee, "_I_ have a padawan. I will be unable to take a seat on the council this time around. So teaching the mass of the next generation is up to you... ha ha."

"Is it too late for me to get a padawan of my own?" Sarval joked.

Zade laughed again, "I'm afraid so-" His laughter abruptly stopped as a flash of light shot through his mind. Sweat began to bead from his forehead as he blinked wildly, "Wha-"

"What's wrong?" Sarval asked with concern.

"I uhh... I don't know." Zade wiped the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his robe. Then as if to answer the question for him, the two Jedi Masters felt a terrifying clamor through the Force. It was so massive they couldn't determine what it was or where it was coming from. But they didn't have to wait for long as the skies lit up as if lightning had clashed together in mid air. Only there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Zade and Sarval looked out the transport's window and gazed up to the sky. The light vanished and the sky returned to it's calm. Zade kept peering out the window as a thundering boom echoed through the transport and undoubtedly through the city. Zade shook his head, "Whatever that was, it was far away."

"Not far enough. That was an explosion in the skies."

The transport droid whirled it's head backwards to face the two Jedi, "Master Jedi. I'm afraid I will have to make an emergency stop as all flying craft have been ordered to get out of the airways."

"Why?" Sarval questioned the droid.

"Code 333: in case of global attack all aircraft must land to make room for local and galactic defense forces. This is for everyone's safety. I must land now."

"Attack?" Sarval shook his head, "It can't be the ex-council anymore. The Sith?"

"Taking advantage of our quarrels no doubt. Quite opportunistic. Quite brilliant, really." Zade grunted to himself as he watched the shuttles and aircraft around them slowly descend and make emergency landings. Their own shuttle began to descend along with them. Zade noticed a large collection of flat rooftops. He pointed them out to the droid, "Take us there."

"Normally I am not allowed to land on rooftops but I am permitted to do so if an authority figure calls it as necessary during a code: 333. Is it necessary?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Hold on please..."

The droid then suddenly dropped the craft into a nose dive. The ship swooped over a rooftop and hovered to a stop. The two Jedi opened the doors and hopped out onto the rooftop. The droid wished them safety as it left and made its way to a safer location. Zade instantly removed his communication device and opened a four way channel to the teams of Koppler-Xevioso, Wennsis-Annoli, and Hub-Hud who remained back at the Temple. Zade spoke into the device, "Attention all teams. Attention all teams."

"Master!" Anoli's voice could be heard.

"Here." Koppler's voice responded.

"I'm here too." Pice who remained with Hub-Hud at the temple responded for both of them.

"Are you all aware of this new attack?" Zade asked.

"Yes." Wenssis said from their team's line, "We are here with Rasch in the medical facility. Every channel on the galactic holo-vision network have switched into breaking news. This early there is a lack of visual footage but apparently a large beam of light has destroyed over a fifth of Coruscant's planetary defenses. The planet is weakened for an invasion."

"What could do that?" Pice asked.

Zade knew. The same thing that destroyed the Republic armada and scarred the Hypori lands. The Sith's ominous tower of destruction. He told them, "This must be the Sith's work."

"That tower?" Annoli asked, "The one that killed Master Borru?""

"I believe so."

"A few more shots from that thing and the planetary defenses will be annihilated. We'll be wide open for invasion." Sarval told them.

"After that, they can use that thing to start attacking the planet directly. They could kill thousands with a single shot." Zade added.

"The Republic Rotunda..." Wennsis said, "That is the safest place on Coruscant. It was made to withstand absolutely any attack."

"Can Rasch be moved?" Zade asked her.

"Yes. Shall we take him there?" She asked.

"If they do invade the Rotunda will be the first place they will attack with their soldiers." Sarval pointed out, "Zade, you are best suited to give orders in this situation. "

"Right." He agreed, "The medical facility should be safe for now. It is centered in the middle of a residential area and I'm sure the Sith don't know that Rasch is there just yet. The Sith will target more militant and political grounds first. Pice I want you and another Jedi Knight to head to the facility and move Rasch out of the facility and take them deep into the residential area and guard him there. I doubt they'll attack you there but just in case, be on guard." Zade took a quick moment to gather himself before continuing, "The Jedi Temple's hanger is still untouched. Hub-Hud I want you to get every Fighter out of the hanger. If they attack the temple I at least want every ship we have airborne and in capable hands."

"We have a number of skilled pilots left at the temple. You don't have to worry about that." Pice told them on Hub-Hud's behalf.

"Leave one in the hanger." Zade told her. He was going to take to the skies himself. He then turned his attentions towards the others, "Everyone else, I want you to grab a Republic transport and head to the Rotunda. Assist in case of a ground invasion."

"I will join them as well." Sarval told Zade.

"Master," Annoli chimed in, "Do you plan on piloting a starfighter against the Sith?"

"Yes. Annoli you'll be fine without me."

"I know." She sounded worried, "I know... just be careful."

He could feel her apprehension. Her last Master died in a Jedi Starfighter as he tried confronting a Sith armada and there calamitous tower. These were emotions she should be avoiding but Zade wasn't going to say anything this time. She had been through so much. Losing her Master and then thrown directly into the middle of a Jedi rebellion. Now just as the rebellion seems to have ended, an unthinkable invasion occurs. To tell her to avoid emotions of worry and fright was unrealistic for a padawan. He hadn't known her long but he knew her long enough to know what to say to calm and comfort her, "Stay alive Annoli. If you don't I may just have to summon your ghost just to scold you."

"You to, Master." She said sounding slightly more at ease.

Zade reached out to all listening, "Your missions have been given. All of you be well and may the Force be with us."

________\-**V**-/________

"So then he leaps up, cuts this giant-war-droid's head off, and uses his little Force powers to take the decapitated head and throws it at the crazed drug dealer!" HotShot told Lwyn with hand gestures to add to her story. It had been about an hour on the train and the two of them had spent most of it talking about me. Mostly stories were about my times with the freedom fighters and how my battle style earned me the nickname, "StormWind". Everyone of us had one back then. You'd think it would be flattering to have two attractive girls talk about my heroics but when HotShot used terms like, "little Force powers" and "lightning stick" to refer to my lightsaber it came off as insulting. It got to me, and she knew it. Thats why she did it. I'm just glad she hadn't gotten into some of the really embarrassing stories about me. Probably because I had some of my own about her to use as ransom.

Lwyn nudged me in the side, "Wow. Sith killer and droid decapitator. Not to shabby there."

"Uh-huh." Was all I replied with. Lwyn didn't seem to pleased with HotShot's insulting terms either but she deemed to enjoy the stories anyways. I stopped paying attention a story ago. The mixture of her subtly teasing me and the friggn' water pressure was heck on my skull.

"So," HotShot said with a snicker, "What was it like down here for so long? I see you two got rather close."

"I guess..." I didn't really hear the question.

Lwyn starred at me, "What?"

I looked over to her, "Huh?"

Lwyn shook her head, disappointed. She then turned back to HotShot, "Apparently not."

"Just as flighty as ever I see." She told me, almost scolding me.

"Umm.... what?" Maybe I should pay more attention.

"So you are..." HotShot guessed, "Voidian?"

"Yes." Lwyn answered, "How did you know?"

"Well the eyes and hair kind of gave it away." HotShot said as if it was obvious.

"Yes, but anybody can dye their hair or color there eyes." Lwyn countered.

"I guess." She admitted, "I guess I can just tell the difference between fake and Voidian. We've had to hide out on J'Rekk more than once. So we saw many Voidians there. Obviously."

"Wow." Lwyn forced a chuckle, "What kind of screwed up position did you end up in that J'Rekk was the safe place to hide?"

"It was never a safe place to hide. Just a place to hide." She told Lwyn. Lwyn understood instantly. J'Rekk was hell but thats why it was a good place to hide. Nobody else wanted to go there.

I decided to jump in on the conversation and get back a at HotShot for her remarks, "You're one to talk about fake. You're real hair color is dirt brown."

She growled at me, "Oh, real classy."

I shrugged my shoulders and laid back into my seat. With a smile I said softly, "Good old days."

--- --- ---

After what seemed like hours of stories of our past, the train finally stopped and the doors to the train opened. HotShot clapped her hands together, "Yeah! Time to set this ol' gal up."

I instantly noticed a problem I foolishly hadn't thought of and pointed it out to her, "Ahem... assuming by ol' gal you mean the bomb... don't you notice a bothersome obstacle?"

She looked around to the sides but didn't notice anything. Its when she looked down that she understood my concern. The train was still angled in a deep slope. While our chairs were still even set because of their brackets, the train floor was at a slide. As soon as we stepped out of our chairs we'd be struggling to fight gravity. That wasn't all. To set up the bomb we'd have to actually get out of the train. That would be impossible. Out there there would be nothing to hold onto or keep ourselves from sliding all the way down the tunnel to our deaths. Vayne's voice came over the speakers, "Umm... guys? I just realized something."

"Yeah." I said with a pathetic chuckle, "We just realized that too."

"Now what?"

"Can't you just use your little powers?" HotShot asked me.

"Ugh.... yeah, maybe." I told her. Again with that...

I looked upward towards the box that held the bomb inside of it. It was now strapped to the wall hanging above our heads. I just noticed now that a bomb was hanging above our heads... that was unsettling. But I came up with an idea. I looked over to HotShot and told her, "I'll bring the bomb to you and you can arm it. Then I'll plant it."

"How are you going to do that?" She asked.

Lwyn answered for me, "With his_ little powers_."

I locked my eye sight onto the box and reached up with my hand. I concentrated on the latch and opened the top of the box. The bomb inside rustled loose from it's padding as the box opened and stared to fall down towards us. HotShot and Lwyn both let out startled gasps, I think I may have too, but I was able to grab onto the falling doomsday device with my mind and stopped it from falling. They let out sighs of relief as I slowly lowered it towards HotShot. She looked very uneasy having a bomb float towards her. I didn't blame her. She was visibly sweating as I held the bomb out ahead of her for her to arm. Lwyn encouraged her in her own way, "Don't kill us."

HotShot shot her an unamused look before she got to work running her fingers over a control panel. She looked up at me and confirmed, "Ten hours should be good? Right?"

"More then enough." I answered as I kept my mind focused on keeping the bomb from falling.

"What if the train breaks down and we have to bring the second train over to pick us up?" Lwyn asked me.

"T-twenty hours..." I corrected myself.

Lwyn laughed as HotShot punched it in and finally armed the bomb. She pointed to the control panel at a little blue button, "It's set and ready. All you need to do is hit this blue button and the timer will start and the bomb will magnify in place. "

I then levitated the device, very carefully over and out of the nearest door. I saw the metal wall of the tunnel and figured that would be a good place to put it. So I slowly and carefully, can't add carefully enough, over to the wall. With the control panel facing away from the wall I used my mind to hit the blue button. The moment I did the bomb was jerked out of my levitation as the powerful magnets kicked in and the bomb locked itself to the metal wall. I felt my mind ease and I took my turn sighing in relief. Then HotShot made a troubled moan, "Uh-oh... did I say blue button? I meant red..."

Lwyn and my eyes both grew wide with worry and turned our heads toward HotShot who was holding back laughter. I chose not to show any response to her poor taste in jokes and addressed Vayne, "All done, Vayne. Bring us on up."

"You bet!" Vayne said eagerly as the doors shut. Moments later the train started moving up again in a snail's pace. So, so slow...

--- --- ---

We were getting close to the top. Very close. I was getting anxious. Very anxious. I wanted to jump from my seat and crawl to the top. We were so close that the train was moving faster and we were back to the spot of the ride where we could look out the ceiling window and see the ocean. Light even broke through the waves. It may have actually been sunny outside which was a rare change from Apsus' usually stormy weather. Or maybe I was just wishing for a sunny day. I longed for sun for awhile now being down in Hyarsythe for so long. I think Lwyn did to.

Lwyn and I just sat in silence as we watched the sea. At one point Lwyn grabbed my hand and pointed at a dark blur in the water. It was a lone swyren swimming in the water. They could live in any parts of the water and this one looked to be headed for the surface. At one point it stopped and seemed to look back at us as our train passed it by. It was a nice, overdue moment for us and leave it to Hotshot to ruin it. She smiled and pointed to us holding hands. I don't think either Lwyn or I realized consciously that we were doing it. As she laughed we pulled our hands apart, embarrassed, "Oh come on. You two really do make a nice looking couple."

Lwyn nor I responded. We just kept watching the ceiling in silence. It wasn't long before the time came. The light was bright and I could look up and see the top of the sea as waves formed above us. I could tell for sure that it was sunny outside though there appeared to be clouds coming.

Moments later the view shot above the waves. Above the sea. The train was above sea level and our trip was almost over. The train began to level out as we started entered into the top base. I didn't care what HotShot said, I gave Lwyn a quick squeeze of her hand just before I hopped out of my seat and back onto level ground. Bad idea. My legs were so useless from the train trip that my knees nearly buckled and I almost fell forward onto Hotshot. I was able to brace myself though and keep to my feat. I'm sure it didn't help that my body was not used to this altitude and I actually felt kind of ill but I didn't care. Lwyn was next to join me in standing. She looked kind of ill to but we got up and tried to get feeling back in our legs. Then HotShot got up and did the same. She wasn't ill at all because she hadn't spent weeks... or months... or however long its been, underwater.

Then the final, and overwhelming moment happened. The train stopped and I heard the doors open. Lwyn and I both looked at the open door. It felt like a portal to a new universe. We had officially surfaced. HotShot laughed and walked over to the door and acted as our guide. She gestured out the door, "Welcome back to sanity."

-- -- -- ---- -- -- --

((Author's note: So things are settling down a bit around here. Thankfully. I won't say 100% that I'll be going back to my, new chapter every 2 weeks update system thing... but I'm going to try. Also I'm upgrading my homepage on this site to my myspace page. It's just a simple page. Nothing fancy. If you'd like you can go to my homepage and add me if you have a myspace page. An add would be appreciated. XD Anyways, thank you for reading. ))


	24. Chapter 25: Beacon

Chapter 25: Beacon

--- --- ---

I forgot what fresh air smelled like. I hadn't even realized that I missed it until I took my first step off the train. The hanger door was open and a breeze of air was wafting into the train station. It was as refreshed as I'd felt in weeks. I was instantly met with a open armed Vayne who was standing there waiting for a hug. He was with the wrong crowd for a hug. Instead Lwyn, who was behind me, pushed me aside and ran over to Vayne. With a grunt she leaped up and wrapped her right arm around the back of his neck and put him in a headlock. She playfully wrenched his neck and nonchalantly greeted him, "Hey buddy. I bet you missed me."

"I thought I did..." He gurgled out just before she finally released her grip.

HotShot came from behind me and pushed me aside to. She pushed me just for the fun of it. She walked over to Vayne, put her hand on her hip, and smiled, "Oh I can guarantee you didn't miss me, Frogface."

"Very perceptive." He murmured.

I ignored all three of them and made my way over to the station's exit. I didn't look back. I didn't want to think about the train. I didn't want to think Hyarsythe. I _really_ didn't want to think about the people still down in Hyarsythe and what we were about to do them. I just wanted to put it behind me.

The hanger seemed different to me then the last time I was here. Granted it had been awhile since I'd been up here but still... it seemed different. It didn't take me long to realize what was so different. It was nearly empty. When I was here. there were troopers, workers, transport ships, fighters, and of course Ollose was up here too. Now Ollose was dead and the troopers were either sent away on the missing ships or Vayne had taken care of the ones that still remained. Now only four ships remained. Three were transports. The other was a familiar sight. Only painted another color. HotShot's ship, "Song Bird".

The Song Bird was a single cabin ship fit for only one pilot. The boxy cabin was in the center of the main body with two triangular wedge bodies adjoined to the cabin's left and right side. Each wedge was heavy and thick enough to shield the cabin from those sides. The dual engines were also attached to the rear of each wedge. Mounted front and center of the cabin was the ship's main weapon. A single snap-fire cannon. I also knew that hidden inside of those wedge bodies were little surprises. In the past they could have been photon torpedoes, ion mines, or even EMP bombs. Currently I had no idea what was stored in there but I knew it was something tricky. The Song Bird used to be a lime color but it looked like HotShot ran with her theme and painted it red with orange and yellow slash marks. She had made it her own.

The Song Bird didn't always belong to HotShot. It used to be her mothers. From the stories I heard, her mother was just as crude and rude as HotShot is. She was a heck of a fighter and a heck of a mother. She and Illune, HotShot's father, were bounty hunting rivals in the past and some how ended up together. But being a bounty hunter is a risky job and her mother's luck ran out one day when Hotshot was just a little girl. Eventually Hotshot inherited the Song Bird after her mother's death. As long as I knew HotShot she never changed the ship's color or changed its name even though she never thought the color or name suited her. The color had changed and I wondered if the name had to. Almost as if she could read my mind, HotShot came behind me and told me, "The Song Bird is still singing. Just in different feathers."

"Poetic." I chuckled, "How unlike you."

Vayne and Lwyn joined us. Vayne smiled ear-to-ear as he impatiently clapped his hands together, "Sooo is the explosive set?"

"Yes." Shot answered.

"Well then what are we waiting here for?" He asked us, "I know you set the timer for later but its still an explosive. I'd like to leave now just in case... you know."

"Are you questioning how I handle my explosives?" She asked him, testy.

"Well aren't you the one who told me this bomb has been sitting in that case for... how many years?" I asked her.

"W-well... I suppose there is no point in hanging around here any longer." She subtly admitted.

I continued, "For that matter, how do we know for sure if it'll even go off?"

"Look, I checked and double checked and triple checked. The bomb is active and it'll get the job done." She assured us.

"Alright. I believe you."

"Good."

"So lets get out of here." Lwyn said.

We all agreed and got to it. Before we left we made some last minute alterations. And by alterations I mean we tore the joint up. Vayne and I went over to the control panel and took our lightsabers to it. Just in case there was some late visitors who showed up and wanted to get in touch with Hyarsythe. Meanwhile, Lwyn took her lightsaber to the trains. There was no way they were going anywhere now. HotShot just sat by and watched the destruction. I gotta admit that it felt good. Just thrashing away and taking out our frustrations. But we couldn't stay forever. When we were satisfied that we had done everything we could to secure Hyarsythe's destruction we hopped into our ships. HotShot in the Song Bird and the rest of us in a transport, and left Hyarsythe for good via the hanger door.

Inside the transport I took the pilots seat since I'd piloted one of them before. Actually I hadn't just piloted one, I had also stolen one and hacked into it's central computer too. Lwyn and Vayne sat in the back and looked out a rear window. They were watching the Head of Hyarsythe get smaller and smaller as we got further and further away. I however was watching the rare sight of an Apsus clear sky. Well not totally clear. There were storms clouds off in the distance but we were flying through clear skies. That always makes the trip easier.

I stayed close behind the Song Bird. Letting HotShot guide me. Meanwhile, Lwyn had left the back and came over to the front by me. She looked back and saw Vayne still looking back. His attention was away from us. So she quickly leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. She then whispered in my ear, "I know its not over yet. But when it is... I'm going to treat you to your first date with me."

I turned my head and kissed her back on the cheek. I whispered back, "A first date? What? Doesn't killing Sith and causing mass destruction count as a first date? "

She rolled her eyes and patted me on the shoulders. In her normal toned voice she told me, "Not with me buddy. Maybe that was your style with HotShot... but that doesn't fly with me."

My voice cracked, "HotShot? Y-you uhh... knew?"

"About you and her?" She rolled her eyes, "What do you take me for?"

"I... uhh." I paused. Thankfully I saw something to change the subject all together. I pointed into the sky, "Hey look!"

Vayne came over and joined Lwyn and I as we gazed up at a massive starcruiser. It's body was pretty simple and straightforward. The main body was a long, black, eye shaped, top shell. The shell's surface was slick and smooth but scarred over years of battle. There were a couple of turbolaser turrets mounted on the shell. One in the front and one in the back. The bottom was just a blocky, gray, metal hull with a few minor laser turrets planted on various areas. It was a simple yet sleek cruiser capable of heavy firepower, strong shields, speedy turbo-engines, and tons of illegal modifications. This was the mighty, "Zellblack Gravesite". A home I left. A home revisited.

________\-**V**-/________

Annoli sat inside a republic troop transport with Master Wennsis and a small regiment of Repulic troopers clad in their blue blaster armor and black visored helmets. Gripping their blasters to their chest as they waited for battle. There was some awkwardness in the air between the Jedi and this particular group of soldiers. It just so happened that the transport that picked Annoli and Wennsis up from the medical facility was occupied by some of the soldiers that accompanied Goullovan when he attempted to arrest Zade and the others. As the troopers told them, when they heard the Jedi needed assistance they volunteered to help as a sort of an apology. An apology that Wennsis assured them was unnecessary. But the soldiers seemed bothered by what they had done just the same.

They all sat together on bench seats. One bench on each side of the long, cramped cabin. Annoli sat across from a solider who was adjusting his helmet before he put it on. He was young. He was barley an adult. Only a few years older than herself. He looked nervous as he fumbled with a safety strap on his helmet. A veteran solider put a comforting hand on the kids shoulder, "Hey. Don't worry. We're suited with two Jedi here. We're the safest transport in the skies."

The kid nodded his head but didn't seem any calmer. Annoli wanted to say something to him but came up empty. She looked over to Wennsis who was sitting to her left. Wennsis was showing off her lightsaber to the captain of this unit while he was doing the same with his customized blaster pistol. I guess they were admiring each others craftsmanship. With no one to talk to she just sat in silence. There were no windows, no way of knowing what was going on outside. Was it chaos? Or was it eerily calm like the eye of a storm? Her confusion increased as the sound of a loud explosion ripped through the skies around the ship's cabin. Everyone went on alert as the ship began to rock. The kid quickly put his helmet on. The captain called up to the cockpit, "What was that?"

The co-pilot shouted back with urgency, "Sir, another blast has destroyed more of the planet's defenses."

"How much remains?" Wennsis asked.

"It's doesn't matter how much remains. They just made a hole large enough to begin an full invasion on this side of the planet. Approaching Sith ships and..." He paused, "Communications are jammed."

"What communications, specifically?"

"It would appear... to be all of them. I think." Was his hesitant answer.

"What?!" The captain shouted, "How can they jam all of Coruscant's communications?"

Wennsis closed her eyes and nudged Annoli, "Make sure you're strapped in tight."

The captain got up from his seat to go over to the cockpit but Wennsis pushed him back into his seat. The captain protested that he should go up there. Wennsis said nothing. She just gave him a confident nod. He understood and strapped himself into his seat. Everyone was silent and sat still like statues. The only thing that could be heard was the hum of the transports engine. Their tension was growing in the silence. Then, like a switch suddenly being turned on, the silence was broken by the outside sounds of laser fire, explosions, and twisting metal. It was coming from all around them. The sounds of war. But they remained sitting like statues. Everyone's minds were wild but there bodies were still. There was nothing they could do right now anyways. Wennsis felt danger and quickly warned them, "Brace yourselves!"

Her warning was followed a loud curse from the co-pilot from the cockpit. Annoli looked over to the open cockpit and saw a flash of ruby light that momentarily blinded her. When her vision returned she saw the horrendous sight of the cockpit being seared, twisted, and ripped from the rest of the ship. It was like slow motion as she saw the cockpit vanish, leaving only a gapping hole to the outside world. The ship jerked violently as it began to spin uncontrollably. The world outside the hole was just a blur. Annoli could hear voices yelling as the ship spun and plummeted from the sky. She clenched her entire body as she dug her hands into the straps of her seat, trying to keep from flying across the ship. She closed her eyes and hoped it would end soon...

________\-**V**-/________

Coruscant's skies lit up. Streaks of blue laser fire fired up from the ground while red laser fire fell down on top of the city. Zade sat in the cockpit of his Jedi Starfighter as he and his astromech droid, P3-TP flew from the Jedi Temple's hanger. Bellow and around his ship were Republic forces. The skies were littered with one man starfighters of both Jedi and Republic makes, hover tanks, troop transports, and frigates hovered above Coruscant's massive structures as they opened fire up into the air. Even large groups of civilian ships equipped with weapons joined in. Some had even ran to the roof tops of some buildings with blasters and opened fire. Civilian vigilante action was illegal but at this time, nobody would arrest them. It may have even been welcomed.

Hovering above the Repubilc was the invading Sith.. The large armada of frigates, cruisers, and warships stayed higher into the air as they rained laser fire down onto the city. Meanwhile, small one man fighters swooped down in 'V' formations of three and engaged anything they could find into a fight to the death. Zade looked beyond the Sith armada, deeper into space. He couldn't see it but he knew that tower was up there too.

As Zade's ship zipped from the hanger, two Jedi fighters swooped behind him in the same 'V' formation the Sith were using. One of the ships contacted Zade over his comm device. A young woman's voice came over the speakers, "Master Zade, that is you isn't it?"

"Yes." He answered, confused, "I thought the Sith jammed the communications?"

A young man's voice came over the speakers with a chuckle, "We use a different system of communications for _our_ star fighters. An older, cheaper system. A decision that actually worked out from the old Council."

That chuckle. Zade knew these two. The brother-sister Jedi Knights and ace pilots. Zade smirked as he called them, "Tomo and Fredika. Form up and follow me."

"Yes, Master!" They both eagerly called out.

Zade noticed that none of the Republic warships or cruisers had taken to the skies yet. They were large and clunky. They would take longer to ready. They would also be early targets. No doubt the Sith would try to destroy them before they could take off. Zade knew where the nearest depot was. He called to his team, "Weapon ready. Our target is the Republic depot #33. Stay just above the rooftops. Engage only if you can do so without breaking formation."

"Weapon ready." They both responded.

Zade kicked the fighter into motion and zipped away from the temple with Tomo and Fredika right behind him. Zade led them above the rooftops of office buildings. Hopefully keeping them low enough to go unnoticed and away from enemy fire. But not so low enough that if they are engaged in battle the surrounding buildings wouldn't be flying hazards. That and if any of the buildings were destroyed and crumbled, Zade didn't want their ships underneath them when they fell. As they cruised above the buildings they saw a group of troop transports being swarmed by two 'V' formation Sith fighter units. The transports were armed but not agile enough to defend themselves properly. Zade tilted his fighter in their direction as he called to his team, "Detour. Aid those transports. Do not break formation."

They had the element of surprise for the first Sith unit as they flew up from the rooftops and opened quick, efficient fire on the three Sith fighters. The three fighters burned and fell from the skies. One crashed into an office building only to be repealed by an outer shield that only actives when a ship crashes into it. Those shields are normally meant to keep intoxicated pilots from recklessly crashing into the buildings, or things of that nature, but now those shields were going to be tested. There would be allot of falling metal.

The element of surprise was over but they didn't need it. By the time the second Sith Unit realized the first one was already gone, Zade and the others had rounded their fighters bellow and in front of them and they opened fire. Two more of the Sith ships fell while one exploded in mid air. With the transports safe for now, Zade and the other two continued on towards the depot.

________\-**V**-/________

It had stopped. The falling had stopped. Annoli looked around. There was crumpled metal everywhere. The hole where the cockpit was at one point was smaller as the metal around the opening curved inward. Now only a small light peeked through. That was the only light allowed inside the fallen ship. She called out, "Wennsis?"

"Annoli..." Wennsis sounded relived, "Are you hurt?"

Annoli checked herself. Everything intact, "No. I'm fine. Are you-"

"I'm fine." She responded.

"If anyone cares, I'm alive." A soldier called out.

"Call out!" The captain's voice shouted through the darkness.

Surprisingly every soldier called out they were still alive. Not all were unharmed but they were alive. The cabins of the transports really were tough. The captain sighed, "Good. We're all here then."

"Except for Bixel and Wrott." A solider said, saddened. It sounded like the kid.

Annoli assumed they were the pilot and co-pilot who were caught in the mangled cockpit. She knew that their survival was impossible. She only hoped it was painless. The captain didn't show much kindness to the situation, "Yeah well... allot of people are going to die here. Besides, they are the ones who got us into this mess." His words were harsh but his voice sounded mournful in his own way.

Wennsis told everyone to sit still and not to move. Annoli saw the white blade of her lightsaber ignite. The blade cast off enough light for Annoli to get a look around her. The veteran soldier who earlier failed to cheer the kid up was wounded. The metal wall behind him had buckled and pushed up against his body. The safety starps that kept him from flying across the cabin kept his back pressed firmly against the buckled metal. His hands shook as he reached for the clasp to undo the straps. His hands were shaking to much and he fumbled to release himself. Annoli undid her own straps before reaching over and helping him. With his straps removed he crumpled forward. Annoli caught him before he hit the ground. She slowly lowered the heavier man, safely to the floor. He managed to grumble out, "I.. ugh.. thanks."

The captain released himself and joined them. He leaned over the soldier and sighed, "I think you have broken ribs."

"I thi-ugh!" He coughed in pain, "Th-think so to."

Wennsis wasted no time in slashing her lightsaber through the wall where she once sat and began carving them an exit. Sparks flew across the cabin as she quickly began welding and peeling away a sheet of metal. Moments later the piece of metal fell away from Wennsis and sunlight poured into the cabin. Sunlight wasn't the only thing that entered into the cabin. The sounds of explosions, and weapons fire came in from all directions.

Wennsis shot back to the rest of them as she looked outside, "Get ready! We're not out of this yet."

She leapt out of the ship with her lightsaber held in front of her. Annoli looked back down to the wounded man. Before she could say anything he told her, "Don't worry... about me. We need every fighter we can g-get. Go."

She nodded to him as she reached to her belt and removed her two sabers. She ignited them and headed out of the crashed ship right behind Wennsis. The able bodied soldiers were behind her with blasters drawn. With her first footstep off the ship she could see that they hadn't crashed very far. In fact it seemed like they feel directly down onto the flat rooftop of a large skyscraper. Above their heads they caught their first glimpse of the war around them. Ships were everywhere. Sith, Republic, Jedi, and a few civilian were battling it out all over the skies. Wennsis stayed on guard in case any Sith fighter saw them and decided they would be easy pickings cornered on this rooftop. And thats exactly what happened.

A three fighter unit spotted them almost instantly when they left their crashed ship. The Sith dived from the air as they set their sights on them. Wennsis and Annoli both held their sabers up in a defensive position, ready to block or at very least evade the attack. The soldiers raised their blasters and opened fire on the preying fighters. The blaster fire did little to no damage to the fighters. The fighters then counterattacked with a flurry of cannon fire that sprayed across the rooftop. Annoli let the Force guide her as she quickly side stepped three consecutive blasts that hit just near her body. Wennsis evaded the one and only bolt that came her way. The soldiers however were not able to evade the strike as effectively. Strong blasts hit one soldiers dead in the chest strong enough to send his lifeless body flying over the ledge of the roof. One blast hit between two others causing them to fall to the ground clutching their now bloodied and wounded legs. The worst was the fallen ship. The fire power from the fighters that struck the hull was enough to move the husk of the ship over to the ledge of the rooftop and send it falling end over end down the long alleys between the neighboring buildings. Annoli didn't even want to think about the wounded man who was left inside. She couldn't afford to. The fighters were rounding for another attack and they were down to just five soldiers and two of those five were severely injured. Annoli looked to Wennsis for guidance, "What can we do?"

Wennsis kept her eyes trained on the incoming fighters. Without taking her eyes off them she shot back to Annoli, "Just stay on guard. Stay alive at all costs."

In other words she was telling her to worry about herself and leave the soldiers to fend for themselves. She hated to admit it it but that was all she_ could _do. She couldn't help them. She griped her lightsabers and prepared for another attack. That was when a loud hissing sound came from above their heads. Annoli looked up and saw a trail of smoke fly above them. She noticed a bullet shaped object at the head of the smoke trail and it was flying fast directly at the fighters. The fighters noticed it to. The two fighters on the sides broke formation but the one at the point of the formation was too slow. The object hit the fighter dead on and in a splash of fire and scrap metal the fighter was erased from the sky. With the two other Sith out of formation they broke away from the rooftop and headed off to other battles.

Annoli traced the remaining smoke trail back to a Republic hover tank that hovered behind them. The tank was white and had one large cannon mounted in the center. There was one small cockpit for the pilot and cannon operator in the front and two side mounted chairs, one on each side of the tank, for Republic soldiers armed with rocket launchers to sit and fire their weapons from their secure seat. One of those soldiers saved their lives. At least for the time being. Annoli waved them her thanks. A moment later the tank's large cannon fired up into the air. It was loud and startling. The cannon fire hit the under belly of a Sith frigate. With the added fire of some other tanks and fighters the frigate's belly erupted in fire and plummeted to the ground. The tank hovered over to the rooftop just above them. The tank wasn't a transport so they couldn't take the survivors away to safety and communications were down so the tank couldn't contact a transport either. But they were there to at least keep fighters off their backs. As the tank hovered above them one of the rocketeers shouted down to them at the top of his lunges, "Leave the flying vermin to us!

Wennsis glanced around the roof for a doorway or latch or anything to lead them off the rooftop. But she couldn't find anything. The roof was sealed off from the rest of the building. They were stuck up there. Wennsis walked over to Annoli and sighed deeply, "This isn't good. Unless we want to jump across rooftops, we're not going anywhere until we can get a transport to pick us up."

"And with the signals jammed we can't exactly ask for help." The captain added just as a rocketeer let off another rocket flying towards a lone Sith fighter. The rocket hit the fighter's left wing and caused it to spiral out of control until in crashed into a building.

Annoli wasn't paying much attention to them. She had other things on her mind as she stared into the sky. Wennsis asked her, "Whats wrong?"

"Bad news..." She said as she pointed into the air.

Wennsis and the troopers looked up and saw what was bothering Annoli. Bad news indeed. The Sith frigates and cruisers that were once hovering over the city as they bombarded it from above had changed tactics. They were descending. The Sith were advancing their invasion.

________\-**V**-/________

"Theres the depot." Zade announced to his wingmen.

"Copy." they both responded.

The three arrived at the depot to witness an attack already in process. As Republic cruisers, frigates, and even smaller fighters were were trying to take off they were met with advanced opposition. The Sith had sent 'Stalkers' and 'Consumers' to assault them. Stalkers were sleek and agile, quad-winged fighters. They were deadly fast and were armed with only rapid-fire lasers cannons. Their shields were weak and it didn't take much to destroy them. They relied more on speed for hit and run assaults. They were swarming in on the medium sized frigate ships, a half dozen at a time, and letting loose as much fire power as they could into a single side of the frigates. Zade watched as a half dozen or so of the Stalkers as they ripped through a frigate as if it were made of twigs.

The Consumers were slow and bulky bombers. They had no laser cannons whatsoever. Their only job was to drop bombs onto the cruisers. The pilots of the Consumers were on a suicide mission. They could barley maneuver at all. They could only hope they could drop off as much of their payload as they could while their heavy shields repelled enemy fire for as long as they could. But no amount of shields could protect them forever and eventually those Consumers would be shot down. The defensive turrets around the depot seemed to be handling the slower Consumers but they couldn't handle the Stalkers. Zade pointed that out to the other two Jedi, "We need to take out those Stalkers. Our fighters are the only ones that can match their speed."

"Copy." They responded again. They both sounded pumped up.

Zade led them past a group of Consumers who were beginning an attack run on a Cruiser that was about to take off. They instead headed straight for the half dozen Stalkers that had just finished riping through a helpless frigate. These Stalkers weren't like the average Sith fighters. They were evenly matched. At least when it came to speed.

Zade was hoping the Stalkers wouldn't notice them approaching, but didn't count on it. Good thing too because they noticed them rather quickly. As soon as the Sith saw the Jedi they forgot all about the frigates and concentrated on destroying them. Zade took in a deep breath, "Get ready."

The Stalkers turned and came at them head on. Tomo told them over the com, "Don't fire on them. Just worry about dodging their fire. I'll thin their numbers."

"Hmm? What are you planning?" Zade wasn't sure what he had planned.

"Don't worry, Master." Fredika assured Zade, "His fighter is modified."

When the two groups of fighters came to firing range the Stalkers let loose volleys of canon fire at them. Zade trusted Tomo and didn't fire. Instead he felt down into the Force and dodged every stream of laser fire that came his way. Fredika and Tomo did the same. Successfully. As Zade and the other two passed through the group of Stalkers, Tomo took action and hit a button on his control panel. Instantly after he did so eight panels opened up on the front of his fighter and small rockets were fired up and into the air. They were seeking cluster missiles. They locked in on the Stalkers just as they passed by. The impact was sudden. Too sudden. Three missiles hit three stalkers and the explosions were immediate. The fire and blast sent off from the explosions happened so close to Tomo's ship that the aft of his ship caught fire. As they passed the now thinned Stalker swarm Zade looked to his left and surveyed the damage to Tomo's ship, "Master Tomo? Are you alright?"

He let out a pained chuckle, "Ugh. I timed that one badly." A moment later he sighed and told them, "I think I lost my astromech and some of my thrusters.."

"Get out of here." His sister instructed him.

"If I broke off now they'd shoot me down anyways." He told her, "I'm fine. I can still go."

Zade looked to the back of his cabin to see if the Stalkers were turning to attack again. They weren't. In fact they were on a straight line away from the depot altogether. They weren't the only ones. The remaining Stalkers and Consumers were all retreating. Fredika scoffed, "What? No way we scared them off them bad."

"We didn't." Zade told them. A sudden warning shot down his spine. He called out to them, "Speed up! Get out of here. Now!"

Zade sped his fighter up as he zipped away from the depot in a straight line. He wasn't headed in any particular direction. Just away from there. Fredika listened to Zade and was right behind him but Tomo struggled. His damaged ship limped in the air. The faster he tired to go, the more smoke the aft produced. Fredika called out to him, "C'mon, Tomo!"

"Ugh! I can't! It's my own fault. Forget me." He sighed as he felt the warning too, "Sorry Fredika."

"Tomo..." She said faintly. She felt it to.

As Zade and Fredika speed far away from the Depot, the sky suddenly lit up. A massive beacon of light fell from the sky and slammed into the large section of Coruscant behind them. The light fatally enveloped the depot and every cruiser, frigate, fighter, and life the remained in the area. Including Tomo and his ship. The sound from the blast was deafening and the concussive wave sent out from the blast caused their starfighters to shake violently.

When the light faded and the blast ended Zade and Fredika both remained airborne. They had survived for now. Zade looked back and saw devastation. The only thing that remained of the blast zone was a scorching hole in the middle of the city. The burst was so massive that the buildings that surrounded the blast radius were bent and misshapen. Smoke billowed into the air as fire raged at the bottom of the scorched planet. Thousands of lives were exterminated in only a few seconds. Zade slumped back into his chair and held back a pained cry. Fredika called over to Zade. Her voice sounded incredibly shaken, "T-Tomo... What was that? Th-that tower?"

"Yes." He answered with a forced calm to his voice, "That thing could.... destroy all off Coruscant if allowed."

"What can we do? Our communications are down. Our planetary defenses are down. They have a super-weapon. And we can't even do anything to attack it because they won't let our friendlies take off. Even if we could there are so many Sith ships in the air that we'd have to fight trough them first."

Zade closed his eyes and reached out for anything that could give him an idea. But he couldn't reach anything. He felt helpless. He _was_ helpless. There was nothing he could do alone. He, _they_, needed the Force to give them a miracle.

________\-**V**-/________

The transports back entrance opened and a ramp extended before us. The sight beyond the entrance was a familiar one. The inside hanger of the Zellblack Gravesite. The interior walls and ceiling were a Graystone color with burgundy floor panels stained with hundreds of blackened oil stains. Mounted to the walls were large ship racks that stored over a dozen starfighters in separate cabins. I took in a deep breath and smelled the welcome smell of machines, oil, and work as it wafted into the transport.

I headed ahead of Lwyn and Vayne and walked towards the ramp. As soon as I took my first step off the Sith transport's entrance ramp I was punched sharply in the right shoulder. I winced and grabbed my shoulder as I heard a hearty laugh to my left. Then a second punch in the same exact spot. I winced again and leapt away from the ramp and away from the man who was punching me. When I was safely away from him I rubbed my shoulder and shot over at him, "Agh! You psychopath!"

Standing on the other side of the ramp was an older human male with a thin white beard and a balding head. He was a big guy. Muscular but kind of pudgy too. He wore a dark blue overcoat that fell down to his knees over a white and black flight suit. His name was Wodigeo and he was a mechanic for the Zellblack. He stood there with a smug grin on his face, "Welcome back, runt." He looked me over, "Though you don't like such a runt anymore."

"I never looked like a runt." I argued as Vayne and Lwyn exited the transport via the ramp behind me.

Lwyn stared him down, "If I were you I would think twice about punching me."

"Never." He protested, "I'd never hit a lady... unless she was a filthy Sith." He looked over to me, "So who are these two?"

"Friends." I told him.

"Well I figured that. Any more details?" He asked.

"Save that for another time, Wodigeo." A man's voice was heard from behind me.

I turned to see Illune Homler walking towards us with his daughter, HotShot who landed in the hanger before us. He walked with the same swagger and confidence that I remembered. He was tall. Taller than any of us. Most of it was in his neck. His hair was long and black just like mine. He always insisted that I wore my hair this long was because I wanted to emulate him. Not true. Though his hair appeared to be getting a little grayer than I remembered. He also wore a white and black flight suit. They joined us and Illune gave me a warm and welcoming smile, "Welcome back, Laan."

"Thank you. And I thank you for all your help."

"No problem." He replied, "I told you I owed you one."

"Yes you do." I chuckled.

He smiled and nodded, "Yes..." His face them turned grim, "I assume Verru told you about our... downsizing already."

"Uhh..." I shook my head, "No."

Illune turned to HotShot and gave her a disappointed frown. She looked away to break eye contact. She shrugged her shoulders and grunted, "Well.... why do I have to tell him?"

Illune sighed and looked back at me, "Well, we lost most of our numbers while you were gone."

"What do you mean?"

HotShot cured out the name, "Dennik... He betrayed us to the Sith!"

"Dennik?" I repeated. Dennick was a part of our group. He was a good pilot during their times when they were bounty hunters but he always complied when we became freedom fighters. There was no profit in it for him.

Illune explained further, "We were planing to lay out an assault on a Sith slave market but before we could he sold us out to the Sith. We flew into an ambush. Allot of lives were lost. Our numbers were halved. Over half actually. After that most of the survivors left us. There are only four of us now."

"Four?!" I was genuinely shocked. There used to be over two dozen of us. And that was just the number of the fighters.

"But Dennick paid for it. We found him later with a blaster wound to the back of his skull. The Sith used him and killed him." Hotshot told me.

So Illune, Hotshot, and Wodigeo made three. I asked them, "Who is the forth?"

"Sbaki." Illune told me.

Sbaki was one of the best mechanics I've ever known. And I knew of allot of mechanics. Wodigeo was good. Sbaki was great. Sbaki wasn't human. She was Slussi. Slussi are known for their exceptional technical aptitude. The top half of their body, down to their waist was humanoid while their lower body was snake-like with a long, muscular, single tail. Their skin was covered in fine scales that differed in color. Sbaki's scales were a pale green color. Her arms had almost wing-like extensions of skin on her forearms and like other Slussi she had a swooping, hood-like fold of tough skin at the back of her head. I liked Sbaki. She was always easy-going and fun to be around. I'm glad that she was a survivor. I asked him, "Where is Sbaki?"

"Working." HotShot said, aimed towards Wodigeo, "As you should be."

He grunted, "All right, all right."

He gave us a farewell nod of his head as he left us and walked deeper into the hanger. Illune explained, "Obviously, since we're down to two organic mechanics and only a few droid mechanics we've been unable to keep the Zellblack in full running condition. It's just too large. Right now only 10% of the Zellblack is functioning properly."

"How did you acquire a ship this large anyways?" Lwyn asked.

"Spoils of the job." Was his vague answer. I wasn't even sure of that answer.

"Can we help with the repairs?" Vayne asked him.

"No." Illune said seriously, "It's falling apart due to lack of proper maintenance. This ship has one fight left in it...which leads me to this. To put it bluntly, Coruscant is-"

"Being invaded." Lwyn finished for him.

Surprised Hotshot and Illune looked at her. HotShot asked, "You know?"

"Back in Hyarsythe, yes." Lwyn told them.

"In a sick and twisted way, it actually made out job easier." Vayne added as he referred to the fact that Hyarsythe was nearly empty of opposing troopers.

"Well... I was watching local coverage of the invasion but it suddenly ended. All the local coverage went blank._ Only_ the local. _Only_ the ones on Coruscant." He told us.

"So, global jamming..." I concluded.

"Yes. But other world broadcasts are getting reports of pedestrians on Coruscant who have come in contact with others outside of Coruscant. So not all communications are being jammed." Illune informed me.

Lwyn rubbed her chin and suggested, "Maybe they are blocking advanced, newer signals like the ones the Republic uses and not the older more raw signals that civilians would have access to. So they block the newer Republic signals and switch their own transmissions to older signals so they can still communicate with each other. You know, going low tech on them."

HotShot raised an intrigued eyebrow, "Wow, Lwyn! That's extremely plausible. I had no idea you knew about these type of things."

I looked at Lwyn with wide, surprised eyes, "I didn't either."

She turned to me and smiled, "Well as much as you talk about these types of things, some of it had to rub off on it me."

"Oh." Was all I could manage to get out... I think I was even more attracted to her now.

"You're probably right." Illune told Lwyn, "The jamming isn't the worst part. Before the news jamming they reported of a massive weapon that took out their planetary defenses. Do you know about that one?"

"Yes." I answered, "I think thats the Risa'griez Citadel. I learned about that one from Phyress Lokindr and a beast-man named Darth Carnivis."

HotShot smiled hopefully, "I don't suppose you happened to learn a weakness or two while you were at it?"

I chuckled as I reached into my coat and removed De'Kyte's datapad and held it in front of me and told them, "Oh... just one or two... Or maybe a couple hundred."


	25. Chapter 26: Freedom Fighters

Chapter 26: Freedom Fighters

--- --- ---

The first wave of the Sith invasion force had descended. The aerial battle had gone from the republic fighting from below and the Sith on top, to an even level. Now both armies of ships were intertwined above the Coruscant buildings while the Republic tanks were forced to the lower alleys between the buildings. Meanwhile, a second wave of Sith was lowering into Coruscant's atmosphere. The Republic armada wasn't as fortunate. Their nearest reinforcement depot was destroyed by Darth Carnivis and his Risa'griez Citadel.

Carnivis stood proudly in the center of the Citadel's bustling command bridge with his arms folded over his chest. As Sith troopers and other deck officers sat at their assigned positions, relaying commands and messages to each other, Darth Carnivis stood and stared at Coruscant through the bridge's main viewport. A fangy smile crept across his feline face as he imagined those lower lifeforms scurrying around down there as they fled for their lives. If he could he'd use the Citadel's superlaser at a constant rate to level the city-planet. But he could't. He was proud of his weapon but his one grief with it was the time it took for the superlaser to recharge. Counting the cool down and recharge it could take anywhere from a quarter of an hour to a full five hours to ready again. The time of recharge was always unpredictable and effected by how powerful of a blast they wanted to achieve. The original attack that took out the planetary defenses, as well as the one that scarred Hypori, was a full five hour charge. Now he was relying on half hour charges.

The Citadel lingered in the space safety outside of Coruscant surrounded by a defense gathering of Sith cruisers and fighters. From that position they could use their suplerlaser against the Republic but the Republic had no weapons that could reach them. Being so far away from the Republic scum Carnivis could also direct his forces without meddlesome distractions. With the second wave descending and the Republic reinforcements crippled, his plans were going perfectly. His plan was to strike suddenly and continue to dominate the Coruscant skies. Always moving fast. Never backing down to let the republic regroup. He knew they had to move fast. They had the numbers now but that wouldn't remain. Eventually other planets will send their own reinforcements to aid the Republic. By that time, Carnivis needed their ground forces to land so the aerial armadas on Coruscnat could break away and concentrate on repelling the reinforcements once they arrived. Meanwhile, the ground forces could invade the strategic senate points that his Master, Darth Rajjor had designated. The ground forces could kill what the Master wished dead and capture what the Master wanted captured. Together the overpowering forces of the Sith would destroy the Galactic Republic and begin construction of a new order of galactic Sith rule.

"Master, we just lost a cruiser." An officer who was in charge of ship formation and coordination announced to him.

Carnivis wasn't concerned over the loss of a single cruiser from a tactical standpoint. It was a loss sure, but he wasn't upset over it. In fact, he imagined how many enemy lives were lost when that cruiser fell and crashed into the buildings below it. Hopefully, the civilians on Coruscant hadn't been able to fully evacuate to the lower levels just yet.

Then he got the message he was waiting for from a trooper stationed behind him, "Superlaser is ready."

An even wider smile curled across his face, "Target?"

"Our target is ready; Republic fuel station and fighter hanger bay." Another trooper announced.

"Do it." He ordered.

The Citadel shook slightly as the superlaser fired another beacon of light upon Coruscant. From his point of view the effects of the blast were unnoticeable. Another drawback in his eyes. He may not have witnessed it with his eyes but he could feel the devastation through the Force. It... warmed him.

________\-**V**-/________

Ah, the bridge of the Zellbalck. The interior was the same graystone color as the hanger walls. Added in some some black and burgundy accents. The ceiling was an arch shaped, bow ceiling that could also open an act as a giant viewport window. Separate control panels and command posts were stringed across the walls... It was allot dirtier than I remembered. It used to be reasonably clean. Not great but not bad. Now there was oil leaks, open panels, loose wires, random jackets hanged over the backs of chiars, and blaster pieces laid on the floor. Sitting at the ships main control panel, doing some last minute repairs was the Sluissi mechanic, Sbaki. All of us, except for Wodigeo who was still in the hanger, entered into the bridge. I walked straight for Sbaki and patted her on the scaly shoulder. Without turning away from what she was doing she welcomed me, "Welcome back to the chaos-s-s."

"Glad to be back." I told her with a chuckle. Same old Sbaki. Work comes first.

I left Sbaki momentarily to her work as Illune gathered us in the center of the bridge. We stood and began drawing up our game plan. Lwyn crossed her arms over her chest and sighed, "So it's right back to business. Out of the fire and into the inferno."

"Thats how it goes when you dip into our type of work." Illune told her.

"Nobody is forcing you here." Hotshot added.

"Hey, don't get em wrong. I'm your first option at a front line power house." Lwyn said, without a doubt of herself.

"Is that so?" HotShot asked with a touch of doubt.

"It's true." I verified for her, "Lwyn is the best of the three of us with a lightsaber. She's not as battle-tested as you or I but I don't doubt shes the best one here."

"Thank you." Lwyn said with a grateful nod.

"However," I told Lwyn with a grin, "Our assault will be strictly aerial."

"Ah." Lwyn backed down, "Then I'm probably the last one you want."

"Thats more my territory." Vayne said a with grin.

"You fly?" HotShot doubted, "Frogs don't fly. They eat them."

"What is it exactly you plan on doing?" Illune asked me, ignoring Vayne and HotShot.

I called over to Sbaki, "Is the Zellblack's wide-range slicer still working."

"Naturally." She called back to me without slowing her work.

I turned to Lwyn and Vayne and gave them a bragging nod and smile, "A wide-range slicer. A hacker's dream tool Sbaki and I modified. Very effective. Very illegal."

"This ship has never used a Republic sanctioned spaceport. If the Republic ever caught us they'd find a lifetime of jail time's worth of illegal modifications." Illune told them, "Which brings up the fact that if this is the Zellbalck's last stand, it's going to have to go out with a bang. Literally. Every piece of evidence that leads back towards us needs to be vaporized."

"I think we can work that into the plan." I told him with a smile.

________\-**V**-/________

There was no grouping between the ships anymore. Now that the Sith had descended there was no order in which way the ships flew. Off in the distance two Sith cruisers flew over to a Repubic frigate. They surrounded the frigate one on each side and opened fire. The smaller frigate never stood a chance and was shot down in seconds. The Republic had trouble putting up a fight. Heavy reinforcements had yet to arrive. If they could just get more of their own cruisers in the air the fight would be evened. But this fight was just a bullying.

Annoli's eyes grew wide as a Sith cruiser flew above their heads. She was looking directly up at it's underbelly. As she stood there helpless she heard a loud boom to her left. Their tank escort had fired its large cannon into the Sith's massive hull. It didn't appear to be very effective. The Sith's shields were still strong and active. The only thing that attack from the tank had accomplished was getting the Sith's attention. A turret on the bottom of the Sith's hull turned towards the tank and let loose a flurry of shots. Annoli watched in horror as the shots hit the tank's cabin and starboard side causing it to catch fire as the tank began to plummet from the skies. Annoli gasped as she watched in slow motion as it fell. Instinctively, she reached out with her mind and grabbed onto the tank. She imagined holding it and pulling it towards her. In response the tank fell towards her on the rooftop. Almost if it was falling down on a guided wire aimed for her. With a loud screeching sound of metal on metal, the tank slid to a safe stop on the corner of the rooftop. Annoli had saved the tank.

The able bodied soldiers and Annoli rushed over to flaming tank. The cabin was pulverized and the two inside were dead. The rocketeer on the starboard side was gone from his seat. Or rather, the seat where he sat was completely missing. The rocketeer on the port side however sat slumped over in his seat. The squad captain rushed over to the crashed tank. He carefully crawled onto a part of the hull that wasn't on fire and leaned over to the rocketeer. He reached under the rocketeer's helmet and checked for a pulse. He called out, "He's alive!"

Annoli was relived that there was at least one survivor. There was no time to celebrate however. The turret was still aimed at the rooftop. Wennsis readied her lightsaber as she prepared to deflect whatever came at her. She stared at the turret, just waiting for it to fire. She heard laser fire and felt quick to act. But the fire never came towards them. Instead the fire she heard struck the enemy turret causing it to explode. A moment later a swarm of Republic starfighters flew underneath the Sith cruiser. They zipped by overhead as they sprayed laser fire on the cruiser's underbelly. The sprayed fire took multiple turrets out of commission. At the tail end of the swarm of fighters were three Republic transports. Two of them slowed down and circled the rooftop as they slowly came down for a landing. Two fighters stayed behind as well while the others headed forward. The fighters remained airborne to provide cover for the transports while the cruiser still remained above them. All of this done without the luxury of communications between the ships. Wennsis let out a relived sigh, "Force be with us."

The soldiers had removed the injured rocketeer from his seat and carried him to safety. Annoli ran over to Wennsis with a smile on her face, "We're saved. At least for the moment."

Wennsis gave Annoli a respectful nod of her head, "Annoli, that was a great thing you did with the tank."

"O-oh? Th-thank you, Master Wennsis." Annoli blushed.

Wennsis let her complementary moment pass and quickly went back into war mode. She turned towards the Republic soldiers who were helping the rocketeer into one of the landed transports as well as their two injured comrades. She told them, "After they are safe we shall head to the Rotunda."

"Yes, Master Jedi." The captain called back to her just as he finished helping one of his injured into the transport.

With the three injured in one transport, the rest of them headed off into the other transport. Wennsis was the last one to step inside. As she did the pilot asked her, "Where to?"

"The Rotunda." She answered as she sat down onto a bench.

Annoli took a deep breath as she strapped herself into her seat. She had mixed feelings as she felt the transport lurch up and forward. She was really glad to be off that rooftop. But then again she really didn't want to be in another transport after her last experience.

________\-**V**-/________

The plan was set. It was going to be dangerous and it was possible that none of us would survive. I more than anyone else. We were all willing to take those risks though. As the Zellblack was in hyperspace traveling towards Coruscant we all gathered in the Zellblack's hanger. Illune, Verru, Wodigeo, and Sbaki were all wearing black and white flight suits. Sbaki's was specially made to fit her lower half-serpent body. Vayne, Lwyn, and I still wore our clothing from Hyarsythe. We gathered in a circle for what could be some of our last moments alive. Illune spoke to us, "This is probably the last of the 'Zellblack Freedom Fighters'. One way or another. Either we die or we survive and I officially retire."

"And I was just starting to get used to this ship." Vayne said as he looked around the hanger.

"Well consider yourselves honorary members of the Zellblack Freedom Fighters." Illune told Vayne and Lwyn.

"Then you'll need names." HotShot told them. She put her hand on her chin as she thought, "Ty'Vayne aka Frogface."

"Ahem!" Vayne protested, "Can't you think of anything better?"

"Nope." HotShot quickly dismissed his protest and turned to Lwyn, "And you shall be... VoidCutter."

"VoidCutter?" Lwyn repeated.

"Man, you have allot of names." I joked with Lwyn, "Lwyn Mun Orlen, aka VoidCutter, aka Zecarpase."

HotShot nodded, pleased with herself, "Those are your Zellblack names. Wear them with honor."

"Frogface. I am so ever filled with honor and pride." Vayne said with flat sarcasm.

"It'sss better than mine." Sbaki told him, "She named me Slither-skinsss."

I laughed. I don't know why but the name Slither-skins always made me giggle. Wodigeo had the worst name though. I turned to him and asked him even though I already knew the answer, "And what name did she give you again?"

He sighed and rubbed his forehead, "Please don't make me say it."

"Pudge-O-Fudge." Hotshot answered for him.

Lwyn and Vayne both laughed. Wodigeo grumbled, "Don't call me that."

Just then a droid's voice was heard through the hanger's speakers, "Time of arrival is approaching one hour."

The joking went away and our demeanor became serious. It was time for work. I took a half step into the circle and took turns looking each and every one of them in the eyes saving Lwyn for last. I then told them, "You know what to do. By the time we arrive I want everyone in their fighters ready to leave. We may end up flying right into the Sith's nest and we could be fired upon immediately. So you guys have to get out right away. Got it?"

They were silent. When we were coming up with our plan I was given control. It was my plan, my show and what I told them, they didn't necessarily like. The plan was solid but they didn't like the fact that I was going to be staying on the Zellblack while they would take their fighters and flee. I wasn't exactly wild about it myself but thats how it had to be. I was the only one who could get the job done. It wasn't exactly a suicide mission, but it was close. Their silence told me they weren't happy with that fact. I appreciated it. I asked them again, "Got it?"

"Got it." Illune told me.

In time they all told me they agreed. All except for Lwyn. I continued on, "I'll stay here, do what I have to do, and then hopefully get out of here before the Sith can do anything about it."

"You had better make it out of here." HotShot warned me.

"I'll be fine." I lied. Truthfully I wasn't sure at all.

Sbaki reached over and put her arm around my shoulder. She slithered forward and led me away from the circle. As she led me away she pointed towards the racks that held the starfighters. There was one of the racks at the bottom with a closed shutter door. Sbaki smiled and told me, "I know you haven't been back very long. But! I ssstill have a 'welcome back' gift for you. Bet you thought you'd never see this again."

She removed a wireless remote from her flightsuit and pointed it towards the closed shutter door. She hit a button which caused the shutter door to roll upwards. My jaw dropped slightly as the door opened and revealed a black and silver starfighter. A one-pilot cabin in the center of a bladed-wedge body. Near the back of the wedge, one on each side of the ship, there were two bracketed, V-shaped, stabilizer wings. Mounted between the wings were anti-aircraft, concussion missile launchers. At the front and center of the main body was a dual-mounted, snap fire, laser cannon. It looked newly repaired and freshly painted. Last I saw it, it had made a crash landing with me in it's pilot seat. When I left it, it was a scalding heap of metal. I left Sbaki and walked towards the ship. I smoothly ran my hand over it's finely polished hull. It was definitely my old ship, "Sforzando". I turned to Sbaki and smiled, "I can't believe you fixed it."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Don't get any wrong ideasss. I didn't do this for you. I just thought it was a shame for sssuch a fine ship to meet such a tragic end. But you know, it is yoursss after all."

I walked back towards her and patted her on the back, "Nice job, Slither-skins."

"Ugh." She moaned as we both made our way back to the circle.

They were all discussing something while Sbaki and I were away. When I asked them what it was, Lwyn turned to me and defiantly told me, "It's decided then. I'm staying with you on the Zellblack."

I stopped in my tracks, "Wh-what?!"

HotSot joined Lwyn, "She makes a good point. How do we really know you don't plan on playing the martyr? You get us to leave the ship while you stay aboard and '_heroically_' stay aboard and sacrifice yourself for the mission?"

"Huh?" Was all I could get out.

Vayne joined those two, "We don't trust you enough to get the job done and then get out alive. Not unless another life is on the line besides your own."

"So what? You want to die to?" I shouted at Lwyn, "Fine. I don't know if I'll survive or not but if you're with me or not isn't going to change anything."

Lwyn rolled her eyes, "Look buddy, my mind is made up. I'm staying here and there is nothing you can do about it. Believe me, I've seen you fight compared to me and I know there is_ nothing_ you can do to stop me."

I put my hands on my hips and bit down on my lower lip. I shook my head as I tried to search for something to say to change her mind... but she's too damn suborn. I knew there was nothing I could say or do. Finally, I slumped forward as I submitted, "Fine. It's your own choice. Your own stupid, stupid choice."

"Heh." She said victoriously, "Thought so. Besides I can't drive one of these ship thingys. So someone will have to do it for me. May as well be you."

I turned my head over my shoulder towards the Sforzando, "Damn. I guess I'll have leave my reunion with my ship for another day."

"What do you mean?" Lwyn asked.

"The Sforzando is a one-pilot fighter. My well chiseled body and your fat-rump won't both fit inside." I both informed and playfully insulted Lwyn.

In return, she playfully stared daggers at me. At least I hope it was playfully, "Oh... Now I almost hope you do die after that remark."

Ignoring Lwyn, I turned towards Sbaki and asked her, "What do you have in a two-pilot fighter?"

"Nothing pretty but it'll get the job done." Sbaki answered.

I then faced Vayne and pointed towards the Sforzando, "You think you can handle that ship?"

Vayne smiled ear to ear, "Oh-ho yes!"

"Good." I told him, "It's a rental from me so don't damage it."

"Of course not." He said as he eagerly rubbed his hands together.

Vayne walked off towards the Sforzando while Sbaki led Lwyn and I towards a back rack. There she showed us an ugly, ugly ship. It looked very alien. The entire ship looked like a half circle. Almost like a flying saucer chopped in half. It didn't even really look like the body of a ship, it looked like nothing but wingspan. Just a drab orange, reversed half-circle, wing. The cabin in the center of the wing was set up for two pilot to sit back-to-back. The one in the front was for the pilot while the one that sat in the back acted as a gunner for a rear mounted laser turret. As far as I could see the only other weapons the ship had besides the turret were two laser cannons at the tip of each side of the half-circular wing. No missiles, no torpedoes, no illegal modifications. And... it was ugly. I turned towards Sbaki and asked her, "Is there nothing else?"

"Not as fast or well ssshielded as thisss one." She assured me.

"Does it have a name?" Lwyn asked.

"No."

"Great." I sighed, "Instead of dying on the Zellblack I'll die in this... flying Hutt-slug."

Sbaki shrugged her shoulders, "There you go. You can name it, 'Hutt-Ssslug'."

I pointed my finger accusingly at Lwyn, "I blame you."

She apologetically smiled, "Umm.... sorry?"

Sbaki shooed us away, "Off you go. I'll have to prepare the Hutt-Ssslug for you."

We left Sbaki to do her job while the others left to prepare their own fighters. Leaving Lwyn and I standing alone in the hanger. As we stood there she asked me, "So what are the odds you think we'll get out of this alive?"

I didn't have an answer for her. I wanted to know that answer myself. I took a brief moment to meditate about it. Unfortunately. my meditations gave me no new insight. I turned towards her and shrugged my shoulders, "Well... I'm pretty confident that we'll get our job done."

"Aaaand how confident are you that we'll survive after we complete our mission?" She pressed the issue.

"Hey, I don't know. You're the one who wanted to stay behind."

"Ugh..." She moaned, "Yeah I know.... I know..."

"You can still back out."

"Nah." She said plainly, "If I die with you it won't be that bad. I guess. I'd take dying fighting the Sith than live as one. If it wasn't for you I'd probably be living as one. So I guess I owe it to you. Even if we both die in a fiery explosion."

"Umm... thanks for the vote of confidence." I said with dry sarcasm.

"Any time." She said with a snicker.

________\-**V**-/________

Zade and Fredika flew in silence. Fredika wouldn't admit it but she was grieving for the loss of her brother. Zade didn't blame her. Jedi or not, they were family and nothing would change that. Since the time the blast that wiped out the Republic depot, they had decided that defending any bases was futile with that weapon. Zade had noticed an abundant number of Sith drop ships flying around the Senate building. Not surprising. Some of the most important people in all the galaxy were in there. They were top priority targets. The Sith were turning that part of their invasion over to their ground forces. Zade decided that if they could be of any assistance, if could be thinning out the ground forces from the skies. Zade told Fredika over the comm, "We're headed to the Senate Rotunda. We'll aid them in any way we can."

"Yes." She responded flatly.

"Perhaps you should sit this one out-" Zade began.

"No!" She protested, "Don't take me so lightly."

"Very well."

They sped forward headed for the Rotunda. They stayed low to avoid unnecessary fire from Sith fighters. As they sped forward Zade took a look down between the alley walkways and bridges that ran between the Coruscant buildings. Many of them led and connected to the Rotunda plaza. If the Sith planned to land their drop ships and deposit their troops they would have to do it safely away from the Rotunda. Then have their troops proceed on foot. If the drop ships tried to land near the Rotunda they'd be nothing short of target practice for the Republic forces. So those walkways and bridges would be where they would arrive from.

Zade thought of shooting down the walkways and cutting off the pathways to the Rotunda but that was to dangerous as there were still a few civilian stragglers using those walkways. If those civilians didn't hurry they'd be met face-to-face with the Sith invaders and their fates wouldn't be much different if Zade had gone ahead and just demolished the bridges anyways. But there was no way Zade could ever bring himself to endanger innocent lives. He couldn't even bring himself to seriously consider it. Fredika was watching out of her own cabin and caught something in the corner of her eye, "Master! Look to your starboard side."

Zade joined in her looking over his starboard side. He didn't see it at first but at second glance he saw it. Deep down in the alleys, where shadows covered the roads Zade could see multiple, glowing, red lights bobbing around in the darkness as they moved down the alleyways. They were the glowing red blades of Sith lightsabers. The invasion was moving forward once again and it was at the Senate's doorsteps.


	26. Chapter 27: Covert

Chapter 27: Covert

--- --- ---

"Attention! Attention! Please remain calm and remain inside the Convocation Center. For your own safety you must remain inside the Convocation Center."

This message was blaring out through the entire Senate Building. Relayed in dozens of different languages. Nobody seemed to be listening to it. The insides halls of the Senate building had been occupied by Republic Soldiers and Jedi alike to protect the senators, politicians, and their assistants inside. But they didn't seem to understand that. The politicians were panicking and wanted out. Some tried pushing their way through the battalions of soldiers only to get pushed back towards the center of the building. To protect them, the soldiers had to keep them here by force. Sienn and her assistant Yaulba stood back calmly as they watched some of the politicians curse at the soldiers and telling them they be fired for doing this to them. Some senators knew the situation and listened to what they were told. Yaulba shook his head and let out a pitiful sigh, "True worth is shown at times of crisis. So far I'd have to say our worth is failing."

Sienn wanted to argue the fact but she couldn't. When a Human senator tried to over aggressively push his way into the fray he was met with a swift kick to the gut. The senator was knocked onto his butt. Immediately he got up and started shouting, "Do you know who I am? I'll see you imprisoned for that!"

Master Koppler, the man who did the kicking, emerged from the crowd and got in the senator's face, "Hey! I'm trying to save your life you pompous nit-wit! Now sit down, shut up, and let me stop the Sith from skinning the flesh from your bones. Oh yeah! I've seen it! They'll take their taloned hand, grab onto you face, and peel it like a fruit."

Koppler's aggressive comment caused not only the human senator but a few others to back away from the mob. Koppler stared them down until the senators sat down with their backs against the wall like scolded children. Impressed with himself, Koppler tugged at the collar off his robe, "Heh. Thats how debates should be done!"

Sienn chuckled, "Maybe I should adapt that into my debating style."

Koppler noticed them and rushed over, "There you are!" He bowed to her, "Sienn... err... Senator."

"Sienn is fine." She told him.

"Whatever. I thought I'd tell you that a large, Sith ground force is advancing towards this very building. We have soldiers posted in every nook and cranny outside the building. The soldiers inside are only a last resort. Its just chaos out there."

"It's chaos in here too." Sienn told him.

Koppler shook his head, "I can't believe it. These greedy politicians, no offense, don't even realize they are in the safest bunker on all of Coruscant. All they worry about is getting their thick hides off this rock."

"Koppler!" A voice called from the mob. It was Master Sarval-Styr. He signaled for Koppler to come, "Front line!"

Koppler sighed, "Well thats my cue. It's off to the front line for me." His facial expression turned serious as he stared her in the eyes, "I probably won't survive so I better speak my mind."

"You always do." Rasch said with a small smile.

"I hope you can restore the Republic. I'm sure you can. Just don't screw this up." Was all he told her before he took off after Sarval.

She nodded and said under her breath, "May the Force be with you, Jedi."

________\-**V**-/________

Annoli stood in a firm, defensive line with Masters Wennsis, Hub-Hud, Xevioso, and the Chadra-Fan Master Takie. They stood front center on the main bridge that lead to the Senate Building. In front of them were rows of buildings and walkways. Bellow the bridge were more walkways and even slums. Standing with them and also behind them, thousands of other soldiers and Jedi that were ready to fight and die to defend the heart of the Republic. Annoli wasn't nervous being on the front line though. She was too pumped to be worried. Her adrenaline was pumping through her veins. Very soon she'd come face-to-face with hundreds of angry, ugly Sith. She was ready.

Most of the Jedi stood in silent meditation. Most of the soldiers watched the Jedi. As long as the Jedi were calm, they were to. They looked up to the Jedi. They respected them. Wennsis turned to Annoli and told her, "Annoli, you don't have to be here. You are still a padawan. I don't want you to die here."

"Are you underestimating me Master?" Annoli asked with an eager smile.

Wennsis shook her head, "It's not that. Its just-"

"C'mon, Wennsis!" A voice said from behind them.

The Jedi turned to see Koppler and Zade walking their way through a group of soldiers towards them. The soldiers respectfully parted to let them through. Annoli's eye widened and a large smile crept across her face, "Master!"

Zade and Koppler both joined the ranks of the front line Jedi. Xevioso asked Zade, "I though you were in the air?"

"I was." He answered, "I figured it wouldn't be fair to let my padawan do all the work while I'm relaxing in my startfighter. Besides Sarval had gotten it in his head that he should be fighting on the front lines too. But whether he liked it or not I sent him back into the Rotunda where it was safer. If we all die we need him to reestablish the Jedi Council."

"It wasn't easy getting Sarval to back down." Koppler said with a laugh, "He can be just as stubborn as some of those senators."

Wennsis told Zade, "As I was just trying to say to Annoli, I don't think its very fair that a padawan be put in this type of situation."

"No way!" Annoli argued, "After all I've been through? What's a little Sith or two... thousand?"

Zade smiled and looked to Wennsis, "Well the girl makes a good point, Master Wennsis. Besides I believe it was only a number of years ago when a single padawan made quite an impact against the Sith."

Wennsis shrugged her shoulders, "Very well. I hope you're right. For the girl's sake."

"You're talking about Laan?" Koppler asked Zade, "But... didn't that end badly for him in the end? I mean, he was basically called a disgrace to the Jedi Order and cast out by the former council."

Zade rolled his eyes and sighed, "Just... Shut up, Koppler."

________\-**V**-/________

"All ready?" I called through the Zellblack's communication system.

I got positive responses from the others. They were all siting in their starfighters. Ready for take off. Lwyn and I sat on the bridge of the Zellblack with a couple of droids that were acting as my substitute navigator and ship moderator. I was sitting at the main controls of the Zellblack. Ready to do my thing. Lwyn was sitting in an empty seat behind me. It was just a couple of minutes before we came out of hyperspace.

From the cockpit of my Sforzando starfighter, Vayne spoke through the com, "This is a really nice ship!"

"Yeah." I said with a flat tone, "I'm glad your heads in the game. Way to focus."

"Sorry."

HotShot called out to the other starfighters, "Let me out first. If need be I'll draw the fire away from the rest of you."

"Oh I don't think so, young lady." Illune scolded her, "What kind of father do you take me for? Letting my daughter put herself in harm's way? I'll go first!"

"But-"

"Little lady!" He shouted to HotShot over the com.

HotShot instantly backed down and let out a whimper, "Yes, father."

From behind me Lwyn enjoyed a hearty laugh at Verru's scolding. If I wasn't so focused I would have laughed too. But I was in my own zone right now. With the ship's controls in my hands, De'Kyte's datapad hooked up to the computer, and the computer opened to the wide-range slicer. I was ready. I gave my friends one last line of encouragement before I ended my communications with them, "I know you guys'll be alright. Just make sure you get away to someplace safe... and... may the Force be with us."

They each gave me a final word of farewell before I ended communication. I took a deep breath and calmly sighed. I really hoped I'd see them again someday. But that wasn't very likely. I slowly turned around in my chair and looked back to Lwyn. She raised an eyebrow, "Whats up?"

"There was another reason why I wanted to do this by myself." I told her.

"I know." She said with a pleasant smile, "Thats why I came. Even if you escape the Zellblack alive you want to go to Coruscant and help them there. Don't you?"

I turned away and sat back into my chair, "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I know you too well." She told me, "No matter what you say, there is a part of you that will always remain a Jedi at heart. Even if its a small part. Those people down there need you to help them. You need to help them. And you need me to watch your back."

"Funny how that works." I said under my breath.

"Well lets just make sure we live to get to that part."

"Right." I said. I turned over to the two droids and asked them, "How about you guys? You realize whats to happen to you guys if you stay here."

One of them answered with its metallic voice, "Of course. We've served on the Zellblack Gravesite for years. It's only proper that we go down with it. A rather suiting name for a ship with this fate. 'Gravesite'. Don't you think?"

"Yeah.... To be honest I was really trying not to think about that." I told it.

The droid apologized, "Sorry."

"No worries." I said as I got back into my zone and asked it, "How long?"

The second droid responded in a very low, buzzing voice, "Two minutes."

"Whew!" Lwyn let out a nervous chuckle, "You ready, Laan?"

I went through a quick checklist and nodded, "Yes."

We sat in silence as we waited for the timer to countdown. Went it reached zero we'd be out of Hyperspace and launched directly into the middle of a Sith swarm. Eventually the droid with the metallic voice began to count down out loud, "10-9-"

_Please don't let me kill us all!_

"8-7-"

_Wait! What was I supposed to do again?!_

"6-5-"

_Oh yeah. Simple. Whew!_

"4-3-"

________\-**V**-/________

Darth Carnivis stood on the Citadel bridge with a wide toothy grin on his face. An officer had just informed him that the superlaser was charged and ready to fire again. He asked another officer, "Is the target in sight?"

The officer replied, "Republic Depot #17 is a lock."

"Good." He said with a wider smile. He was already to give the order to fire when he felt a tingle up his spine that made him pause, "What is this?!"

Soon after, a trooper called out, "What? Master, a ship has just come out of hyperspace... behind us!"

"What fool would come out of hyperspace behind a heavily armed armada?" Another officer wondered.

Carnivis snarled, "Give me visual!"

A holo image popped up on the viewport of a large black warship. One of the officers laughed, "One warship? Pitiful!"

Carnivis felt a pulsing warning. He pointed towards the ship, "All ships, fire on that vessel! Destroy it!"

________\-**V**-/________

From the viewport of the Zellbalck I counted nearly a dozen Sith cruisers surrounding the mighty Risa'griez Citadel. It was allot bigger than I thought. The massive flying tower looked invincible. Heavy shielding, dozens of laser turrets, massive size, and one big bad superlaser. You add a dozen Sith cruisers into the mix and you have yourself a major thorn in the Republic's side. It was unbeatable. Almost unbeatable. Unless it came across a hacker with a wide-range slicer and every vital access and data code conveniently downloaded into a datapad. But what were the odds of that happening? Heh!

The moment I saw that monstrosity I began my hacking. Our starfighters were leaving through the hanger and the Sith cannons were aiming towards us. I had to work fast.

________\-**V**-/________

"They are deploying starfighters." An officer called out.

"Ignore them! Destroy the main ship!" The Darth shouted.

Two of the nearest Sith cruisers opened fire on the black warship. Streams of laser slammed into the warship's shields. The enemy warship's shields were already nearly destroyed. His toothy smile returned. The ship was weak. A few more shots from his cruisers and it would be nothing more than a flaming heap of metal... but his cruisers stopped firing. The warship just sat there in space. Untouched. He ran over to the deck officer, "Why aren't they firing?!"

"I-I don't know!"

Angered and frustrated Carnivis swiped his claws at the deck officer's face. The officer feels to his knees, clutching his bleeding face. A second officer called out, "All weapons are offline! Including the superlaser."

His anger softened and was replaced with a touch of worry. His feline face fell, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know!"

Another trooper called out, "Our shields are down."

Carnvivs turned towards the viewport and stared at the black warship. What were they doing? How could they do this to his Citadel?

________\-**V**-/________

"This is easier than I thought." I declared.

"Th-thats good?" Lwyn asked nervously. She was more afraid than she'd like to admit.

"Thats very good." I double checked the computer, "The others have escaped safely and I disabled all of their weapons. The Citadel's weapons are down permanently. Though the disabling of the cruisers are only temporary. I'm sure they'll be able to fix that rather quickly. I'll just have to be quicker."

"Now what?" She asked.

"Now we really make them sweat." I said with a dark grin.

________\-**V**-/________

"Our communication jam on the planet has been disabled... Life support if failing!" A trooper nervously declared.

Carnivis stood in silence for a moment. They had no weapons. No shields. Life support was dropping. They were completely vulnerable. It was just a mater of time before Republic reinforcements arrive from off planet. If they came while the Citadel was in this state they wouldn't stand a chance. Carnivis had no choice. He ordered, "Set the hyperdrive! Retreat!"

His master would not be pleased.

________\-**V**-/________

"So they plan to retreat?" I said loudly.

"I thought failure was death to the Sith? They never run. How cowardly. I made a better Sith then these guys!" Lwyn said with a laugh.

"No kidding."

"So just shut down their engines and destroy the sucker."

I was already to begin disabling their hyperdrive... when Reinforcements arrived. Two more Sith cruisers arrived in the distance. I cursed under my breath. I couldn't disable their weapons too. That trick wouldn't work twice. Plus it wouldn't be long before the other cruisers got their weapons back online. I had a choice to make. Stay here and try and knock the citadel out once and for all and die. Or escape. I guess that was why Lwyn stayed. Her being here made up my mind for me. I yanked the datapad from the computer and stood up form my seat and turned to the droids, "It's up to you now."

"Don't worry." The metallic droid told me, "Be safe."

Lwyn stood up from her seat. I ran over and grabbed her by the hand and pulled her out of the bridge. We ran. Raced right down the hallway outside the bridge. I don't think I'd ever run that fast. I didn't even know I could. As fast I was, Lwyn was faster. She reached the lift that led down to the hanger and got in. I was right behind her. The lift doors closed and we began to descend. As we went down I slapped my forehead with my hand. I failed. The plan was to completely disable the Citadel leaving it defenseless. A useless lump. Then to destroy it once and for all. The droids that were left behind were to supposed to drive the Zellblack into the side of the the Citadel, destroying both ships. But I wasn't able to disable the hyperdrive. So they still had a chance to escape. Now it was going to be a race to see if we could escape in time enough for the droids to slam into the Citdel before it retreated. I should have forgotten the life support and went right for the hyperdrive! Why didn't I do that?! After all of the things we went through to get this far... I failed!

Lwyn reached over and placed her hand on my cheek, "Stop it."

"Stop what?" I dishearteningly asked.

"Thinking that you failed." Lwyn said with a smirk.

I closed my eyes, "I did fail."

"No you didn't. That ship is retreating. The Republic just got the upper hand." She assured me.

"But I could have destroyed it." Almost on cue to add to make things worse, we felt the ship shake as canon fire slam into our hull. I shook my head, "I'm sorry. I don't think we're going to make it out of here."

"You don't know that yet. And if we don't, oh well. It's been fun. At least for me." She said as if it were no big deal.

"I guess. At least we took out Hyarsythe."

"There is that too." She said as she reached over and grabbed my hand, "We'll be fine."

Then on cue to make her point, the lift stopped and the doors opened to the hanger. Sitting right in the center of the hanger was the Hutt-Slug. Prepped and ready for take off. Lwyn and I wasted no time and took off for the ship. The Zellblack didn't have much left in her to hold off this barrage. We were down to seconds...

________\-**V**-/________

"Master! I've got weapons back on three more of our cruisers. But our own weapons are still unusable!" An officer exclaimed.

"What about shields?" Carnivis asked.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm completely locked out of our own system. I can slow the drop in life support but other than that all we have are our engines and hyperdrive."

Carnivis lowered his head and pounded his fist against a computer screen. Shattering it. He had no choice. He couldn't afford to lose the Citadel. He regretfully gave the official order..."Then we do. We retreat. Have the evasion continue as planned... Without us."

Carnivis looked up and stared coldly at the enemy warship. The three functioning cruisers joined in the assault. Now making five total in the assault. The enemy never had a chance. Laser fire rained down on its hull. Breaking through it's shields and tearing away at it. Small explosions came from inside the ship. By now the halls and cabin of the ship were filled with raging fires. Anyone left aboard would be ash. It was a small consolation to Carnivis that the last image he saw before the blur of hypersapce was the sight of a massive explosions ripping the enemy ship into two flaming husks.

________\-**V**-/________

"Master Jedi..." A Republic commander grabbed Zade by the shoulder to get his attention, "Communication has just been restored."

"Really?" Zade said with surprise, "How much of it?"

"All of it." The commander said under his commander's helmet that covered all of his face, "The early reports say that the Sith tower has left. Republic cruisers have been safely dispatched from all remaining depots."

"Not that I'm complaining... but I wonder what made them leave." Koppler questioned.

"Our fierce intimidation?" Annoli suggested with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders.

"Nows not the time." Xevioso took a step towards them and told them. He had his own communication going with scouts around the area. He had just got a message from his scouts around the area. He relayed the message to them, "The Sith forces are nearly here."

"Strike that!" The Republic commander told them, "They _are_ here!"

Zade felt a warning. But it came too late. Nobody was able to react in time to notice the Republic commander remove a hidden lightsaber handle from his sleeve. He ignited the blade and stabbed it into the nearest body. Master Xevioso. Annoli gasped as she watched the crimson blade pierce his body. Xenvioso stared defiantly into the visor of the commander. With a soft gurgling sound he let out a final word, "Sith..."

The commander pulled the blade from Xevioso and the Jedi Master's body fell backwards. In direct reaction the Jedi all ignited their own lightsabers. Zade took his two blades and swiped them at the fake commander but the commander was able to lean away from the attack and leap backwards into the troop of Republic soldiers. But they too were not what they appeared. They all stood around their commander with their blasters aimed at the Jedi. With the commander standing in the middle of the troop and safety away from the Jedi's attacks he raised his crimson lightsaber into the air as a signal.

The Jedi watched as the massive assortment of Republic soldiers that surrounded the Senate Building began to rustle. The red blades of the Sith lightsabers popped up amongst the Republic army around them. As did the colors of the Jedi's blades. The Sith dressed as Repulbic Soldiers began to fire their blasters into the crowd. The real soldiers were hesitant to fire back. Not know who was friend or foe. Zade curled his upper lip at the Sith's cunning brutally. They had taken advantage of the lack of communication and snuck their own disguised units into the Republic ranks.

The fake commander took a brief moment to remove his helmet. His long white hair tied in five thin braids fell down around his back. His once pink skin was now almost completely covered in dark green tattoos. It was hard to make out what species he was due to his multiple piercings. He had small horns sticking from his face. It was hard to tell if they were real or just more piercings. Zade recognized the tattooed barbarian instantly. Cavick Brycers. A mad Sith general and probably one of the most wanted individuals in the galaxy. Cavrick stood behind his soldiers as he ordered, "Shoot them."

Zade didn't hesitate is responding with a Force push that knocked the first row of soldiers off their feet. However that didn't stop the rest of the soldiers from firing at them. As blasts came their way the Jedi worked franticly to deflect each bolt. All the while Cavick stood by and watched with an evil glare in his eyes. The Jedi were successfully deflecting the bolts until Zade sensed a new danger from behind them. They couldn't afford any new dangers. Zade couldn't even afford to turn and see what the new danger was. The answer came when a sudden streak of light appeared to his left. The moment the light speared, Master Hub-Hud dropped to the ground. Dead. The light was the laser from a sniper riffle. The Sith had snipers off in the distance. It was coming from the area of the bridge where they first thought the Sith were arriving from. They were pinned down from all areas and nobody was available to help them. The others all had their hands full with the other Sith. Zade could only think of one way out. They were on a bridge. High in the air. Falling from this hight would be fatal for most, but not for the Jedi. He ordered them, "We have no choice! Jump the bridge!"

They all had the same thought in mind and didn't hesitate to run over to the ledge of the bridge and leap. Each Jedi fell in random directions. They didn't know where they were headed. But it was safer than the alternative.

With the Jedi gone, Cavrick slowly walked over to the ledge and looked down. He turned away towards the front of the bridge. Off in the distance, more Sith soldiers, ones not disguised as the Republic, were making their way towards the Senate building. Cavrick knew that the Senate Building was their's for the taking. They didn't need him. He had other prey in his sights. He turned to another squad of fake Republic soldiers and signaled for three of them to come over to him. All three with red lightsabers in their hands. He gave the order and the four of them together leapt over the bridge. He'd never lost prey before and he wasn't about to let it happen this time.


	27. Chapter 28: Battle for Coruscant

Chapter 28: Battle for Coruscant

--- --- ---

The slums of Coruscant. Roads and alleys of criminal activity. Seedy bars. Scandalous nightclubs. Gambling halls. Gang houses. The lowest of the low. And due to the fact that it was bellow most of the main city of Coruscant, and sun light didn't reach down here, it was an all day nightlife. If not for the thousands of multi-colored neon lights in the area and the occasional street lamp, it would be too dark to see. Normally the roads would be littered with lowlife but no there was no life to be seen. Everyone had barricaded themselves inside the nearest buildings during the invasion.

Annoli had found herself in the middle of these roads. After she leapt from the bridge she landed on a roadway separate from the other Jedi. Before she could try and find any of them, two Sith had landed near her. She fled down the roadway and found herself in these slums. The Sith were right behind her. One Sith a bulked up, swarthy-faced, cycloptic, male Abyssin. The other a lithe, maniacal-looking, human female. Fortunately, Annoli was faster than both of them. Running was all she could do. She knew facing one of them alone would be a challenge. But a two-on-one fight was beyond her.

It was eerie running through empty streets. Every intersection, every turn she expected to run into somebody. But she didn't. If it wasn't for the sound of constant, echoing blaster fire and the occasional explosion from the battles in the far distance the entire area would seem like an empty ghost town. Annoli was trying to turn in random directions. Turn right at one random road, then left at the next. She wasn't sure where she was going. She just hoped that the Sith weren't able to keep up. On the other hand, every time she took a turn she feared she might run right into the path of her chasers.

Eventually after some left turns, some right turns, she was lost in the middle of the maze-like slums. Hopefully she'd lost them. She was satisfied enough with her placement and decided to try to hide in a building. She had a few options to choose from. None of them made her very excited. Two of the buildings had holo-images of scantly clad dancers outside their entrance ways. She definitely wanted to avoid those places. That left a house with a gang flag to her left and a cantina to her right. The gangs around these parts were known to be ruthless no matter what situation. So she didn't want to go there. Technically she wasn't old enough to enter a cantina but she figured it was her best bet. No matter her choice, it was hard for her to believe that any of these places were just beneath the roads of the Senate building. It wasn't always like this either. But politicians seemed to stop caring about the slums so it just turned into this.

Annoli walked over to the caninta's entryway door and tried to open it. When she placed her hand on the iron doorway, it wouldn't open. It was locked. She then knocked on the door with her hand... She waited... No response. So she took the butt end of one of lightsabers and pounded it against the iron door. The clanging sound was loud. There was no way the people inside couldn't hear it. A brief moment later a panel on the iron door opened and a single eye peered through at her. A gruff, gurgling voice from inside barked out to her, "Get out of here! Theres nothing here for you."

"Awe, c'mon. Let me in." She complained, "I'm just a little girl. Are you saying you won't help a lost little girl?"

"Nonsense!" The voice barked back at her, "I see those Jedi sticks in your hands. Get out of here before you lead a Sith here!"

This person had no idea just how right they were. Annoli sighed, "C'mon. You can't just leave me out here."

"You don't belong here in the first place!"

"Fine." She hissed back at the voice, "But if I survive this I am sooo making sure the new Chancellor shuts this place down!"

The voice just hissed back at her before slamming the panel closed. Annoli frustratingly kicked the door before she turned away from the door and ran back into the middle of the street. This was getting her no where. She was hoping some of these scum-bottoms would be tough, overly-aggressive, brutes. Some thugs that could hold their own against the Sith. Some that wouldn't be afraid to give her a hand. But they were a bunch of cowards. This was pointless. Staying down here wasn't going to help her. She had to get out of here. But now she wasn't sure how to get out of here. There wasn't much directional signs. Only signs to get you to the nearest nightclub.

Without much knowing of just where exactly she was going, she took off down one of the roads. There had to be some kind of lift to take her up. Thats what she was looking for. Up and away from her pursuers.

She was running for a little while before she saw what she was looking for. A sign that pointed to an elevator-lift. One that would take her up to the main streets of Coruscant. She took a left at the street that pointed towards the lift. As soon as she turned she saw the long, glass tube of the lift. The glass was covered in a thick coat of dirt, but it seemed operational. As she ran for it, she felt a disturbance. She quickly dropped her entire body to the floor, pressing as much her body down against the road as she could. A brief moment later a dumpster was lifted from near a building and flung towards her. It flew by just inches above her down pressed body. The dumpster missed her and slammed against a wall on the opposite side of the roadway. She popped back up and saw her two Sith pursuers hiding behind a fallen wall of a derelict building. They were waiting for her. They must have figured she'd come here.

With Annoli back to her feet she switched her lightsabers on. In response the human Sith leapt from behind the wall. With her crimson, dual bladed saber in hand she charged for Annoli. The bulky Abyssin was behind her with his single bladed saber in hand. She was much faster than her partner and reached Annoli first. She made a stabbing motion aimed at Annoli's heart. Annoli crossed her two blades and trapped the woman's stabbing blade. The woman pulled her blade back and tried to spin the other end underneath like an uppercut to slash at Annoli's knees. Annoli leapt to her right to sideswipe the strike but the Sith was able to adjust fast enough to turn her uppercut into a spinning slash at Annoli's left rib. Annoli had to act fast block the strike. She managed the block but was met with a flurry of multiple strikes aimed at various parts of her body. The Sith used both ends of her blade to make Annoli unsure of what direction the next strike would come form. Annoli could barely block her.

Thats when the Abyssin joined in. With the women attacking her from the front, the Abyssin swiped his blade towards Annoli's back. Annoli was desperate. The idea of attacking these two simultaneously was insane. So with the Abyssin's swipe coming for at back and a strike from the woman aimed for her head, Annoli switched off both of her lightsabers and dropped to the ground, avoiding both attacks, and curled her smaller body into a ball. She rolled backwards towards the Abyssin's feet. He pulled his saber back from his previous swipe and brought the tip of the blade down as he prepared to stab down at her curled body. Before he could, as she rolled she reached her hand out and force pushed his right leg. His leg was jerked from underneath him and caused his legs to part and lose his balance. With his legs apart she rolled between his legs and behind his unbalanced body. Annoli took the moment of opportunity to pop up from her ball position and leap int the air. As she was airborne she brought her knees up to her chest to gain leverage in her legs. Then at the full arc of her leap she violently thrashed her feet out and kicked him in the back. The already outbalanced Abyssin was launched forward toward his friend. The woman leapt into the air, above her falling friend. Annoli was ready for it as the same moment she leapt above her friend, Annoli pointed both of her hands at her body and Force pushed her body backwards. The woman's body lurched and flew down the road in the opposite direction of Annoli.

By the time the Abyssin got to his feet and turned around to face the Jedi girl, she had vanished. The girl was quick and made them look like fools. Out of anger the woman who was just flung a couple of meters by the girl, slapped her hands against the ground. She leered at the Abyssin, "This is your fault you big lumbering idiot!"

The Abyssin yelled back at her in his native tongue. She grit her teeth and snarled at him, "Forget it! Lets just go after her! I'll have that twit's skull."

The moment she ended her sentence the lift-elevator behind them activated and an elevator shot up the tube. The girl had made it to the tube and escaped to the main streets of Coruscant. Leaving these two in ultimate embarrassment. They were just schooled by a little padawan girl.

________\-**V**-/________

Zade clashed blades with one of the Sith that had chased after the fleeing Jedi. This Sith was a humanoid with a Republic commander's helmet over his head. It wasn't Cavrick. This one kept his or her identity hidden under the helmet. These two had found themselves in this situation after Zade leapt from the bridge and landed on an industrial catwalk. Zade fallowed the Catwalk until he reached a door. He entered the door just as this Sith landed on the catwalk behind him. He took the door, closing it behind him, and entered into a sewer. The sewer of the Senate Building. At least Zade had entered into the clean-water area. This sewer had a self-cleaning system to recycle the water. Where he entered was a walkway that ran along the clean-water sluice.

Zade had waited beside the entryway door until a ruby blade pierced the door frame. The Sith had stabbed the door's hinges. Then with a force push, the Sith sent the door flying into the sewer. If Zade had been standing behind the door it would have caused him some serious harm. The Sith charged into the Sewer with saber held out in front of him. Thats when Zade ignited his blades and swiped them at the Sith and their blades clashed together as the fight began. The two waisted no time in exchanging quick and sudden attacks and counterattacks. The lighting was dark, save the occasional dull lamp on the walls, and every clash of their sabers temporally lit up the sewers. Zade was battling him with one saber at a time. Mainly to stall and scout the Sith's fighting style. They seemed to be an aggressive fighter. So Zade would face this one carefully. Wait until they made a mistake.

Zade felt himself slowly getting pushed backed towards the waterway. Obviously, he didn't want to be pushed into the water. So when Zade saw an opening he blocked the Sith's attack with one saber and stabbed his second saber at the Sith's chest. The attack wasn't strong but it was just meant to back the Sith up. Which Zade accomplished. With the Sith backed away, Zade leapt backwards, over the sluice, and onto a waterway on the opposite side of the sluice. Now there was a sluice of water that separated the two combatants. The Sith wanted to attack but wasn't sure how to go about it. If the Sith leapt for the opposite side it would be the last thing he ever did. Because to do so would leave himself open for Zade's attack. So they had a standoff. Zade stared into the Sith's faceplate while the Sith tried to figure out what to do.

The standoff ended when the Sith quickly jerked his hand outward and let out a blast of lightning from their fingertips. The move caught Zade by surprise, just a little, but this Sith wasn't strong enough to manage anything powerful enough to effect Zade. He was able to redirect the Sith's own lighting to the tip of his saber. Harmlessly defusing it. Zade decided this was the mistake the Sith was going to make and counterattacked. He flicked the tip of his saber and using the Force, he reflected the Sith's own lighting back at him. The Sith lightening struck them in their free hand and coursed through their body. The lightening stunned them only temporally. It didn't take the Sith long to recover from Zade's counterattack. But this time was enough for Zade to turn and flee down the sewer tunnel. The Sith leapt over to Zade's side of the walkway and gave chase.

The Sith was meters behind Zade who was zipping down the tunnel. The Sith was losing ground on Zade. Zade reached a turn in the tunnel and turned to the right. The Sith gave chase and turned right as soon as he reached the turn. But when the Sith turned he saw only a short tunnel that ended in a wide opening. The clean-water carried over to the the end of this short tunnel where it fell down around ten meters into a large pool. This was a silo where the clean water gathered. The Sith walked over to the ledge and looked down. Zade must have leapt into the pool. Thats what the Sith thought at least. But when he felt a danger behind him. they spun around towards the entrance of the small tunnel and saw Zade standing behind him.

Before the Sith was able to understand that he'd just been tricked, Zade twirled one of his sabers and severed the Sith's hand that held their saber. His second blade pierced the Sith's chest. The Sith let out a near silent gasp as he realized his defeat. He attempted to raise his hand and try a last ditch Force Lightning attack but Zade was quick to Force Push the Sith in their chest and send the flying backwards. Falling down helplessly into the pool of clean-water. He watched as the Sith's body made a splash upon impact. He let out a deep sigh as he switched his sabers off, "Note to self, don't drink the water in the Senate Building."

Zade walked away from the tunnel as he made his way for the exit. If he survived he'd have to remember to tell someone that there was a corpse in one of the clean-water reservoirs. That could be.... quite disturbing if someone tried to drink from it.

________\-**V**-/________

Jedi Master Koppler somehow found himself in a completely different area then the rest of the Jedi after jumping from the bridge. When he landed he felt a mysterious oozing sensation splash around his body and a putrid aroma fill his nostrils. A quick look around told him that he had fallen into an open garbage chute. He had most likely fallen into the collective, daily trash of the apartment buildings on this side of the large bridge. The trash was probably waiting to to be picked up by the local waste collectors when the invasion began. Now it just lingered here.

He stood knee deep in sludge. He tried to flick some of it off the sleeves of his robe but it seemed to stick to the fabric no matter how hard he tried. With an annoyed grunt he removed his main robe and tossed it aside. The sludge attached to the robe was just weighing him down. Besides, he would never want to wear that again after touching this muck. No amount of cleaning, or boiling would ever remove the stain to Koppler.

Only a small portion of the chute's roof was open. The part he landed in. The rest of the chute was a large closed off tunnel of trash. The light from the outside only reached into a small portion of the chute. The rest was pitch black. And Koppler being Hapan, had horrible night vision. But in this case that benefited him. Due to that poor vision, the visor he always wore over his eyes could compensate for his species' weakness. With a simple flick of a switch, his visor turned into night vision mode. Making the darkness illuminate to his vision alone.

He could sense danger behind him. And he didn't want to fight in this slop. So as much as he hated the thought... he'd have to tread his way down this.... disgusting place... to escape it. Hmph! What had become of the Jedi if a Knight like himself was reduced to fleeing through trash? This was a low point for him. He swore to himself that he wouldn't allow himself to be killed in a place like this...

________\-**V**-/________

An elevator door opened and a group of Sith troopers stormed into the hallway. The hallway of the top floor of an apartment tower. This apartment tower was the closest building to the main bridge that led to the Senate Building. The same bridge that the Jedi leapt from. These seven Sith troopers rushed into this building with sniper riffles shouldered, aimed, and ready to fire. Their mission; to occupy the top floor and provide sniper fire for the Sith fighting at the Senate Building.

The Sith ran over to the apartment doors to the ride side of the floor and removed plasma torches from their utility belts. They used the torches to slice the metal hinges from the door. With the hinges removed, they kicked the doors down and stormed into the apartments. Two in each room while the seventh troop stood guard in the hallway and made sure everyone from the left side of the floor stayed in their rooms.

In the three evaded rooms the troopers forced the families inside into a single bedroom and locked them inside. In one case a father got overly protective of his wife and children and paid for it with a riffle shot to the chest. With the apartment rooms theirs, the troopers shot the windows open with their riffles to give themselves a vantage point from the top floor of the building. Some troopers even used the broken glass of the windows to rest the barrel of their riffles on to steady their shots. They used the long range scopes to aim at Republic Soldiers and Jedi. The sniper's orders were ruthless. Shoot the Jedi and anything in a Republic uniform. Even if it's their allies disguised as the Republic. It was pointless to worry about friend or foe in the long run. They just wanted their kill shots.

The snipers began firing as the seventh trooper was on guard. As he stood in the hallway, gripping his riffle he grew restless. His comrades were having all the fun while he was stuck guarding the hallways. He was hoping one of the residents would pop their heads out of the doorway so he could have something to shoot. But that didn't happen. Hearing every shot of his allies riffles just brought him closer and closer to the edge of snapping. When a dinging sound came from the elevator at the end of the hallway, signaling that the elevator was opening, the trooper quickly spun towards the elevator and fired two shots into the elevator just as it opened. A white blade of a lightsaber flashed twice as the lightsaber deflected both shots back at the trooper. The first deflected shot caught the trooper in the chest, the second in the helmet. The trooper dropped as Master Wennsis entered into the hallway.

She took a moment to sense the Sith. She sensed two in the three rooms. None of them had noticed her yet. She dug her boots into the ground and sprinted down the hallway in a straight line. As she passed by the first room with troopers squatting near a window, she reached out and force pushed them in the back. Sending the two of them crashing through what remained of the window and falling all the way to the bottom of the tower. As she zipped to the second room she did the same to those two. Then the same with the third room. Boom-boom-boom. With her speed it only took five seconds for all six remaining troops to be sent falling from the tower's top floor.

After Wennsis landed from the bridge, and after some walking, she found herself in the extended basement of this apartment building. She sensed danger at the top and took an elevator up. Thats when she found these seven snipers. With them taken care she walked into the third room. This was the room where the father had been shot in the chest. He was alive, grasping at his chest and struggled to get up. She rushed over to him and leaned over, "Settle down. Your wound will only worsen if you struggle."

He didn't listen. He kept flailing around in a panic, "My family?!"

She sensed his family safely locked in a bedroom near them. She placed her hand over the man's forehead and used the Force to put him to sleep. He should survive if he remained still and he wasn't going to remain still if she wouldn't have put him to to sleep. She looked outside the broken window and saw a building of equal hight, across the roadway from the building she was in. In fact it was exactly the same as this one. Sith troopers had occupied that building as well. Firing their riffles from the top floor through broken windows.

Bellow them on the roadway Wennsis saw battalions of Sith Troopers marching towards the Senate Building between the two buildings. A moment later three Repulic starfighters zipped above the rooftops, firing down upon the Sith. Thinning their numbers. As Wennsis was watching this she heard a voice behind her, "Took care of them already?"

She turned around and saw Master Koppler standing behind her. Covered in.... she didn't want to know what. Some dark yellow substance. Koppler was standing all the way on the other side of the room but she could still smell a stench emitting from him. She wretched slightly, "Ugh! Whats wrong with you?"

He frowned, "I had to crawl through the bowels of Chaos just to find myself in the trash compost of this particular structure. I saw you enter the elevator just before the doors closed and thought I'd come assist you."

She pointed around the room, "Well you can see how pointless that was. This was nothing for me."

He stood their with dripping wet clothes and told her dryly, "Yes.... well it seems like I've been doing allot of pointless things lately." Koppler then pointed to a surviving sniper riffle on the ground, "Ever use one of those before?"

"As a matter of fact," She said before clipping her saber to her belt and levitating the riffle into her hands, "I have. But its been awhile."

Kopper raised an eyebrow, "Really? Ms. Strict and Obedient Jedi used a blaster riffle?" He pointed to the opposite building and the Sith snipers, "Can you use it on them?"

She shouldered the weapon and aimed the weapon into the top floor of the opposing tower, "We'll see..."

________\-**V**-/________

The lift stopped and the doors opened. Annoli held both sabers in hand, unignited. She cautiously popped her head out of the lift and looked around. She had no idea where she had escaped to exactly. All she knew was that it was away from those two Sith. Thats all she cared about for now. She appeared to have escaped to a landing platform. A kind of parking area for those upworlders to leave their ships when they visit the seedy slums where she just escaped from. There were three lifts separated by large golden pillars. All three lead to different areas. The one she just came form was in the middle of the three. There was also a few walkways that connected from this platform. On most days this would be a busy area but due to the invasion there wasn't a ship or body besides her on the platform.

Annoli looked up and in the distance she saw a formation of Sith fighters swarm a Republic warship. Only to be shot out of the air from Republic fighters guarding the warship. With communication restored and the tower in the sky gone, the Republic was taking back the air. However, from her point she could also see the Senate Building off in the distance. The Sith looked like the confusion they caused by their disguise had given them an advantage. She hoped the Jedi and Sienn were safe.

She stepped out from the lift only to have it close behind her and go back down. Those Sith must have called the lift back down to ride up and continue the chase. Annoli didn't plan on staying around for them to find her. She took a step forward and began a sprint but only a few strides in she sensed danger. She wasn't able to act fast enough to avoid the danger. From the corner of her eye she saw a figure leap from behind one of the golden pillars. As soon as she saw this person, she felt her body involuntary leave the ground as her body was violently flung to the side. Her airborne body didn't stop flying until she slammed, right shoulder first, into the opposite pillar. She bounced off the pillar and hit the ground with a thud. She bit her lower lip and winced in pain as she felt a massive amount of pain in her right shoulder. It was dislocated. She held back a cry of pain as she grabbed her right arm and slowly sat up.

She saw the figure, that she instantly recognized as that mad-man Cavrick Brycers, walk towards her with a maniacal smile plastered on his face. Annoli grunted, "H-how did you?"

"I sensed you'd be here. So... I came. Simple." He answered, "I'm disappointed it took you so long."

She gripped one of her lightsabers in her good hand while she used the Force to steady the pain in her shoulder. She slowly got up. Cavrick's response was a giddy laugh, "Ohh... You're tougher than I figured for a padawan."

"Well... you're more clever than I figured for some... dung-brained, punk-faced, kowakian-ass Sith." She told him defiantly.

He smiled and bobbled his head back and forth, "Well aren't you a feisty one?"

She raised her saber in front of her, "You have no idea!"

"I usually don't, can't remember those I kill.... but I may just remember you." He told her as he held both of his hands out in front of him.

He let out a powerful burst of Sith Lightning at her. She wasn't able to move fast enough to avoid or even block it. The lightning hit her body and she dropped to her knees as the painful lightning coursed through her body. She couldn't move, she couldn't talk, even her smallest of muscles wouldn't allow her to move. Her body locked up and her mind was blacked out momentarily. When her conscious returned she felt like her body was on fire. She had fallen onto her back. She could barley move her body. But she put all of her strength in and managed to pull herself away from Cavirck as he began walking over to Annoli. He mockingly clapped his hands, "I can't tell you how many Jedi I've killed. How many of them cry out in pain as I zap the Hell out of them. But so far you've yet to plead. Yet to cry. You are something, indeed."

She reached the pillar and managed to pull herself up into a sitting position with her back against the pillar. She winded as she tired to hold back tears.. but she couldn't anymore. A small trickle of tears fell down her face. Her body was broken. And her clothes were smoking from the lightning. At least she hoped it was her robes and not her skin.

It was hopeless for her. As she sat there and watched Cavrick stand before her, she realized how lucky she was to make it this far. She was a measly padawan thrown into a massive war that was beyond her. Luck. Jedi don't believe in luck but.. she didn't care right now. She was just glad she was able to do as much as she did against the Sith and the corrupt Council. Even if her name wouldn't go down in the Jedi archives, she had helped the Jedi. And that was all that mattered. She put all the strength and Force she had left into speaking, even though it pained her to do so, "Look around you... You lost.... We won. You're fight is futile. Deal with it..."

He smiled and nodded, "True. We lost. This is all for fun, to me. You know, you are defiant and strong willed. I'd almost like to take you as an apprentice but I can tell you're far to stubborn for my tastes. But you earned whatever respect I can afford to give a Jedi. For that I'll make it quick." He took his lightsaber handle and pointed it at her chest. When he'd ignite his blade it would pierce her heart, "It's a shame you couldn't sense me better to defend yourself. I would have liked to have seen your skills in the Niman style. There truly is a part of me that is regretting th-"

Cavrick's words were cut off by the sound of a lightsaber igniting. Annoli winced as she prepared for his lightsaber to stab her heart. But it didn't. She opened her eyes and saw a red lightsaber sticking from Cavrick's chest. His mouth was gapping open and he stumbled forward, towards Annoli. A hand reached from behind Cavrick and grabbed his left shoulder to keep him standing. Then with a yank back on his shoulder and a deeper thrust of the blade into his chest he gurgled in pain. From behind him a female voice told him, "And it's a shame for you that you couldn't sense me... bet then again... Nobody ever does."

Cavrick couldn't see the one that stabbed him from behind. He only saw Annoli. And for all of his talk about killing Jedi and how pained they were, he showed Annoli fear and pain on his face. The hand released his shoulder and turned off the saber. Leaving a hole in Cavrick's chest. His eyes rolled back and hid body fell to the side. Annoli's strength was fading fast and her vision was blurring. But she was able to see the one that saved her. She wore the clothing of a Sith. She had the lightsaber of a Sith. But she seemed so different. A beautiful woman with black and violet hair and violet colored eyes that looked at Annoli with concern. Her eyes were the last thing she saw before Annoli's mind blacked out and her body fell limp...

________\-**V**-/________

Lwyn knelt down beside the padawan girl. Horrible. She must have been in so much pain. But she was safe now. Lwyn would see to that. She used her ability to remain undetected in the Force and snuck up behind the Sith general. Then striking him down. I could tell looking at Lwyn she felt guilty that we didn't get here sooner. I was about to go over to help her when I noticed a light flash from the middle elevator-lift to my right. The lift had arrived from the slums bellow. I could feel the danger of the Sith behind those Sith doors. Two feral animals were waiting to be unleashed. Lwyn looked back at me, "Laan?!"

I nodded as I planted my feet firmly in the ground and raised both of my hands towards the lift. I told her, "Leave this one to me."

Her and I both watched as the lift doors slid open and we got a look at a Human and Abyssin Sith inside. The moment I saw them I tried to give them a taste of their own diabolical medicine. I gathered up a large amount of energy in my body and summoned the gathering of Force power to my finger tips. Finally I released the energy and a powerful stream of lightning shot from my fingertips towards the lift. The lightning hit the capsule inside the elevator shaft that the two Sith were in. Lighting coursed through the metal walls of both the lift and the shaft around it. The electricity was enough to overload the lift's power circuits and caused an explosion from inside the shaft. Fire scorched around the lift capsule as the Sith were unable to react in time. The lift's power and safety latches failed and the capsule plummeted down the shaft with the two Sith still inside. They probably had no idea what happened to them. I wasn't exactly sure myself. I looked over to Lwyn. She was staring at me. She looked slightly afraid of me. She shook her head, "Whoa..."

I looked down at my hands. That power I released felt... good. Too good. M-maybe I could see why those fallen to the Dark side used this power and those of the Light tried to avoid it. Maybe this was one power that I wanted to avoid. I could see how this kind of power was addictive. The smoke billowing from the shaft was proof that this power was..... amazing. Too amazing. Unless I absolutely had to use it, I wanted to avoid this one.

"C'mon!" Lwyn called for me, "We have to help this girl."

I put my hands down and walked towards Lwyn and the girl. I knelt down near the girl's body and placed the palm of my left hand on her forehead. Just by touching her I could sense the dark Force energy that struck her body. It felt evil. It was unsettling knowing that the same power that did this to the girl was the same type of power I used only moments ago. Though I believe my attack struck the lift and not the two inside. But... that didn't make me feel any better though.

I was getting distracted from the task at hand. I wasn't sure if this girl could feel any pain in her current state but if she could I wanted to relieve as much of it as I could. So I sent calming pulses through her body with my hand on her forehead. As I did this I told Lwyn from the side of my mouth, "You did a good job. This girl was going to die without you."

"I should have gotten here sooner." She said with a slump of her shoulders and a deep sigh.

"Now who's getting down on themselves?" I asked her, referring to the time she tried to cheer me up after I failed to destroy the Citadel.

"You're right... I guess." She said flatly.

I removed my hand from the padawan's head, "She'll be fine."

"Good."

I noticed the girl's shoulder and could clearly see it was dislocated. I winced and turned to Lwyn, "Her shoulder is dislocated. We'll have to pop it back in for her."

"Wha? I-I don't want to do that." Lwyn protested.

"The longer it remains dislocated the more damage it'll cause her. Besides it's better we do it now while she can't feel it. It's going to hurt."

She winced again, "I know but... it grosses me out. Cracking bones and tearing muscles..." She shivered, "It just really, really creeps me out."

I raised an eyebrow, "You just stabbed a man in the chest.... get over it."

"Well he deserved it. Its completely different."She argued.

"Just do it!" I told her, holding back a chuckle.

"Fine, fine."

Lwyn squeamishly held the girls body in place while I grabbed her arm and twisted and popped it back into place. Lwyn had to look away. Jeez... she wouldn't hesitate to break a Sith's neck but when it came to this she was a lightweight. But that was a good thing. If she had to get violent she at least knew who to direct it upon. Of course, I would have to use this information of how squeamish she was against in the future to tease her.

The sound of a Sith fighter crashing into the side of a nearby building brought us back into the moment. I reached down and scooped the girl in my arms. I nodded to the landing pad behind us, "We'll take her with us, drop her off someplace safe, and then head to the Senate."

Lwyn nodded in agreement and we began walking away from the slain Sith general and the smoking lift. I carried the girl over to the ledge of the landing pad. Thats where the Hutt-Slug was hovering just bellow the ledge. Earlier, when we were flying we spotted the Sith's Force lightning from the cabin of the ship. I pulled the ship over to the edge, just bellow eyesight so we would remain undetected. I had it hover in place while we leapt from the cockpit and assisted the padawan. The odds of us flying by at that direct moment were low. Perhaps the Jedi slogan rang true this time, "There are no coincidences. Only the Force." Just this one time, I'll believe that.

Lwyn hopped down into her gunner position first. Because the Hutt-Slug was a 2-person craft I had to lay the padawan on Lwyn's lap. After the padawan seemed secure I hoped into the cockpit and took the controls. We sped forward and away from the chaos we caused. I was eager. I wanted to get this padawan and in safe hands so I could head for the Senate Building.

With the lose of the Citadel and most of their aerial assault the Sith were losing the invasion. In fact it was safe to say they lost. But the Senate Building remained the one area that the Sith still dominated. It was also the area that they could do the most damage with what forces they had left. I'm sure some of the Sith would still look at this invasion as a minor victory if they could kill as many senators and peace keepers as they could. I felt responsible because the Citadel got away and I wanted to make up for it there. This was the Sith's last stand on Coruscant and when I got done with them I was going to make they wouldn't have a leg to stand with.

((Note: Sorry for the somewhat longer than usual chapter update. I've had a hectic week, plus I'm sick. So next chapter may have a bit of a delay too. Depends on if I'm better or not.))


	28. Chapter 29: Treatment

Chapter 29: Treatment

--- --- ---

Fear struck the senators inside the Rotunda as Sith clad as Republic soldiers tried to blast their way inside the building. The Jedi defenders had defeated any Sith that managed to breach the Senate Building and were holding a strong defensive line. If a Sith ever managed to get into the building the Jedi wouldn't allow them to get very far. It seemed that inside was safe for the moment. Outside the Senate Building however, was complete chaos. Republic soldiers and Jedi battling the Sith. And losing. The Republic soldiers were to hesitant to fire on those that wore the same uniform as them. Even the Jedi seemed hesitant to fight them.

Most of the senators had been taken away to a secret, safe bunker. Sienn and a small group of senators had decided to relinquish their spot in the bunker and gave their spots to the excessive amount of innocent news people that were sent to the Senate Building to cover the accession of Rasch as the new Chancellor before the invasion. Most of the news people took the offer to take the senator's positions in the now fully occupied bunker. But the hardcore news people that wanted to cover this story stayed behind for the sake of getting a story.

Troubled tears ran down Sienn's face as a group of friendly Republic troopers carried an injured padawan to the back of the lobby where Sienn and other senators had remained during the battle. The injured padawan, a furred Caamasi boy, was placed on the floor near Sienn and safely away from the fighting. The boy let out a pained shriek as he laid on the floor. Sienn knelt over and looked at his wounds. He had a brutal cut on his left thigh and a blast wound on his right lknee. Both of his legs were in tough shape. Sienn wanted to help the boy but she didn't know any medical treatments beyond wrapping the wound. The two republic soldiers that carried him had already wrapped two rags around the boy's wounds to slow the bleeding. But it didn't help enough. And he was still in pain. An amphibian, green skinned, head crested Vurk senator from the planet Sembla knelt by the boy. Across from Sienn. He asked Sienn, "Can we do anything?"

Her assistant, Yaubla stood over Sienn's shoulder and spoke to the padawan boy in a rough dialect of the boy's native language. Yaubla and the padawan had a short conversation to which Yaubla relayed to the others, "He doesn't seem to care his legs hurt. He is only hurt that his Master was killed by a Sith."

"Poor child." The Vulk senator said under his breath.

Sienn cursed under her breath, "This needs to end."

________\-**V**-/________

The battle outside the Senate Building was gruesome. Sith vs Republic. Sith vs Jedi. Republic vs Fake Republic. Jedi vs fake Republic. If this battle continued as it was all the sides were going to keep killing each other until nobody remained. Which would end up as a victory for the Republic I suppose since they'd have held the Sith back. But it was a victory unworthy of the sacrifice. You'd think the Jedi would be able to come up with something. But as usual, it was going to be up to me to save their sorry behinds once again.

I had taken the Hutt-Slug to an emergency infirmary the Republic has set up in the middle of a large department store in the city. I left the padawan girl to get treatment. I left Lwyn there as well. I didn't want Lwyn to come with me this time because I saw how she looked at me when I used Force lightning on those two Sith. As much as I didn't want to do anything like that again there was always a chance I'd be forced to do something dark again. I didn't like the way she looked at me. She must have understood that too. Because when I asked her to stay behind, she didn't push it. Uncharacteristically she agreed with me for a change. I gave her my necklace I got from Lanoul and told her I'd be back.

With that taken care of I grabbed a white handkerchief and a long, tan, overcoat from the clothing section of the infirmary/department store. One big enough to hold four lightsaber handles on the inside flap and a hood on the back. I wrapped the handkerchief around the bottom half of my face and put the coat on over my clothing from Hyarsythe. Thus covering my old clothing's appearance as a Sith. It was bad enough I was using the Sith's signature lightsabers I didn't want to dress like them too. The last touch was popping the coat's hood over my head. With he handkerchief and hood I was satisfied I wouldn't be recognized as "Laan; the Jedi Outcast". Sure I was older, bigger, and... much more handsome than I was as a padawan but I didn't want to risk it. I wasn't convinced that those in the Jedi Order that were once my enemies were all gone now. I heard rumors that the Jedi Council was dead... but why risk it?

With my anti-Sith makeover I took the Hutt-Slug and traveled to the Senate Building. I was expecting to encounter enemy fire from the Sith on my way there but either 1; There weren't many Sith left to attack me. Or 2; They took one look at this ugly piece of flying fodder and figured I wasn't worth the effort. It wasn't until I came within view of the Senate that the occasional blast bolt would come flying my way. From my aerial view I got my firsthand look at the carnage. It looked like the Sith hadn't breached the Senate yet so there was some hope they they'd be able to hold them off.

I found some random place to park the slug outside the Senate grounds. A place relatively deserted of Sith and Republic. I hoped out, took one of the four lightsabers in my hands, and charged forward. There was a narrow bridge from where I parked that lead straight for the Senate Grounds. I ignited the crimson blade and sprinted down that bridge as fast as I could. Looking ahead towards the grounds I could see I was running straight into a complete battle zone. There were no tactics, no formations, no friggin order of any sort. Its was just desperate individuals trying to pick out an enemy in the chaos and eliminate them. That what one Republic Soldier tried to do when he saw me. I guess my disguise didn't work. All they saw was a red lightsaber blade. That equaled shooting. Oh well. It was only a minor nuisance. They fired at me, I deflected it away from me and into the back of a Sith trooper.

When I reached the end of the bridge I ran straight into the sea of bodies. The first thing I did was run between two Republic Soldiers, ignoring them, and headed for the jerk Republic soldier that shot at me. He had a visor to cover his face but by body language alone I could tell that he was terrified by me charing at him. Before I could reach him he pointed his blaster at me, ready to fire again. I didn't give him the chance. I reached my hand out and gently Force Pushed him on his butt with my left hand while I launched the lightsaber in my right hand like a javelin over his fallen body. The saber soared over the top of him and found it's mark in the chest of a Sith knight a few yards behind him.

Another Sith with a red saber saw this and took a swipe at my head, thinking I was now unarmed. I ducked under the swipe, at the same time grabbing for one of my concealed lightsabers in my jacket. I ignited the saber while it was still clipped to my coat. The blade pierced through the coat flap and up into the Sith's chest. I quickly pushed the wounded Sith off of my blade and he fell back with a thud. I removed the ignited saber from my coat and gripped it my left hand. Then with my right hand I reached down and liberated the lightsaber from the hands of the Sith I'd just defeated. With two sabers in my hands and a sense of warning in the Force, I twirled the saber in my right hand just as blaster bolt came flying at me and deflected it back into the shooter's stomach. The shooter was wearing Republic armor but I was pretty sure it was just a Sith in disguise. At least I hoped so... but I was pretty sure.

With a brief lull in the battle around me I looked at the soldier that I had Force pushed on his butt and told him, "I'm on your side."

He stood up with his blaster gripped tightly in his hands, "I-I see that..."

"Good!" I told him before I ran past him, headed towards the Senate and dealing with any Sith I saw along the way.

Ahead of me I saw a Republic soldier with an injured leg. He couldn't stand and two fake Republic Soldiers stood above him with blasters pointed, ready for the kill shot. I reached my left hand towards one of the fakes and through the Force I grabbed her and levitated her into the air and threw her into her friend. Knocking them both to the ground, her on top of her friend. Without slowing a single step of my stride I ran past them and made one single stabbing towards the ground that struck both of them down in one move. With those two fakes defeated another Republic friendly took the injured soldier over his shoulder and rushed him towards safety.

After that I came across a couple more troopers with their backs turned towards me and I dispatched them with little effort. Then yet another Sith trooper where the only real effort that was required of me was when I had to hurdle over his body as it fell to the ground. But it wasn't all this easy. Shortly after that I actually had to come to a full stop as I locked eyes with a Sith Marauder. A Sith dedicated only rage, blood lust, and combat. Caring little about the mental aspects of the Force and concentrated only on how to use the Dark Side to increase their sword skills. A tough opponent on a battlefield like this. One that someone with Lwyn's type of skills would be better off fighting. But I had larger bounties of Sith under my belt than a single Marauder.

I wasn't much for dual-saber combat so I found the nearest Sith trooper and promptly deposited my extra saber in his back. Comfortably leaving me with one saber. The human marauder grinned at me. His teeth had been filed to look like fangs. I guess he was trying to intimidate me. He didn't. If it wasn't for the increasing noise around us I would have made a snarky quip to this joker. But alas, I would have to keep my comments to myself this time.

The two of us charged at each other, meeting in the middle with a clash of our sabers. Immediacy after the initial strike we followed up with a burst of attacks and clashing blades. I wasn't sure who had the advantage. It seemed 50-50. Not bad. To be honest, me matching blows in straight forward combat with a marauder wasn't too shabby. It was their one and only strength. Their entire beings are dedicated to fighting. But their weakness was anything beyond combat.

As we were clashing our blades together I pulled back a little just so he would have to extend his hand closer to me when he attacked. With his lightsaber and hand closer to me, I quickly moved my free hand above the knuckles of his hand that held his saber. I contracted the Force into a Force Point attack that hit him directly on his hand. I heard some disturbing cracking and popping sounds come from his hand as he dropped his lightsaber.

I was unaware at the time but a second Marauder was watching us fight from a close distance. When he saw me essentially destroy his buddy's hand with a well placed Force Point, he took that as an invitation to join into the fray. He ran up from behind me and swiped his lightsaber towards the back of my head. I was able to sense it in time to crouch down as the saber passed over me. The marauder with the broken hand wasn't as lucky. The second marauder's blade kept arcing forward and decapitated the first marauder. From my crouching position I saw the decapitated marauder fall to the ground with nothing more than a stump on his shoulders. Slain by his own kind. Holy Jawas... These guys were nuts!

I didn't let that happen to me. From my crouching position I quickly reached out through the Force and located the third lightsaber hanging in my jacket. The blade ignited and flew from the back of my jacket, piercing a second hole in my brand new coat, and striking the second marauder square in the chest. The marauder fell back, yanking the lightsaber from my coat and taking it with him when he hit the ground. Another Sith down and another lightsaber lost. I looked ahead towards the Seante Building. For all this effort, loss of lightsabers, and holes in my coat I had only progressed a quarter of the way towards the Senate Building.

I may not have been able to make up for my lost effort and holes in my coat but I was going to make sure I had plenty of disposable lightsabers to spare. So I quickly plundered the two lightsabers from the two slain Marauders and retook the saber sticking from the second Marauder's chest. With three sabers back in my coat and two more in my hands I pushed on. The senate didn't seem that far away by looking at it but when you add in all the Sith obstacles... this was going to be insane. And I was the perfect man for the job.

________\-**V**-/________

Master Sarval-Styr gallantly stood at the threshold of the Senate's main entrance. The top of his Jedi ropes cut and fell around his waist. With a blaster wound in his right shoulder that he managed to ignore for the most part. He and some other Jedi had formed a defensive line on the threshold to prevent the Sith from entering. The Sith would enter this building over their dead bodies. Sith after Sith were sent to break through the Jedi line but the growing piles of the defeated Sith around the main entrance was evident that the Jedi had succeeded so far in holding them back. Not without hefty costs to the Jedi though. The line started with five Jedi. Now only Sarval remained. And he was questioning how long he could continue.

His body was reaching it's limits and the Sith weren't backing down. Two Sith warriors, both with dual-bladed lightsabers, came charging for Sarval. He took a deep breath and clasped his hands around his single saber. He was so weak he didn't think he'd be able to handle these two anymore. But he wouldn't allow them to pass. At the cost of his own life. If be.

Sarval put every effort he had left into deflecting the initial strikes from the Sith. He held them off until one of the Sith sliced Sarval's lightsaber handle in half. Disabling his saber and leaving him defenseless. He dropped what remained of his saber and backed away. He put his hands towards the Sith and let out a mild Force push. The push knocked them stumbling back a step or two but it was only effective as a brief diversion. That was all Sarval had left. He stammered backwards and began breathing heavily. He had been using the Force to keep his stamina peeked but that had ended. He wanted to keep fighting to protect the Senate but he feared he was no longer able. Still, out of instinct he put his hands up, as futile as it was, to defend himself.

The Sith came for him, ready for the deathblow. Sarval prepared himself for it... when they suddenly stopped in place and held their lightsabers close to their chest in a defensive stance. A brief moment later Zade ran from behind Sarval and engaged the two Sith with his dual-yellow-sabers. Sarval watched in fascination as Zade danced around the two Sith in combat. He used his speed advantage to run from Sith to Sith, engaging one in combat while avoiding the other. Then when the two Sith were able to gather themselves, Zade would use the same tactic against the opposite Sith. Keeping the two disorientated and confused.

Zade kept them on the defensive. Never giving them the upper hand. The battle concluded when Zade sharply ran behind one of them and thrashed one of his lightsabers out. This forced the Sith to sidestep Zade's attack and bump into his Sith friend. The distraction of the two bumping into each other gave Zade his desired opening. With his second saber he made one slash that cut both of them. One in the chest and the other in his back. With one strike Zade had defeated two Sith. And despite all of his running and dancing about, Zade still looked as if he had all the energy in the galaxy. Zade looked back to Sarval and smiled, "They sure roughed you up. Didn't they?"

"Hmph." Sarval grunted. He pointed towards the door, to the outside battle, "I thought you were out there. How did you get behind me?"

Zade raised his eyebrows and smiled flatly, "The sewers of course. By the way, I'd avoid drinking from the water for awhile."

"Noted."

Zade seemed concerned about Sarval's state, "You don't seem well, my friend."

Sarval nodded, "Unpleasantly so."

"I don't ever wish to overstep my authority but... perhaps you should take it easy." Zade cautiously suggested. Hoping not to offend him.

Sarval frowned, but agreed, "Yes. The wounded need treatment. I can assist them."

Zade nodded and smiled, "Leave this gate to me."

Sarval left the entrance and headed to the back of the hall. He would use what little energy he had left to help the injured. Meanwhile, Zade took his place at the entrance's threshold. Ready to take on any foe that came near him. He didn't have to wait long before he got his first official opportunity at gate duty. And a mighty one at that. Three Sith marauders. They locked eyes on Zade. Three against one. They liked those odds. Zade on the other hand wasn't too pleased with that stipulation. But he'd take in on anyways.

The three charged for him. Ignoring to take in their fallen allies on the ground as a warning. Zade remained in place, planting his feat firmly in the ground. Keeping himself steady. When they were only five meters away from him, Zade inexplainably saw streaks of red light come from behind the Sith. The light seemed guided and driven. Zade raised an fascinated eyebrow when he realized the three lights were the three blades of lightsabers. Three guided and driven lightsabers that found their marks in the marauder's backs. The three blades stabbed the charging Sith. The Sith fell forward mid-stride and all hit the ground simultaneously. Their bodies slid across the ground and halted just before Zade's feet. Zade could only say to himself, "Interesting."

From the battlefield a man in a long, tan coat walked towards Zade. He stretched out his hands towards the fallen Sith and summoned the three lightsaber handles into his hands. As he walked for Zade he clipped the three blades on the inside of his coat. Zade couldn't tell who this man was. His head was covered under a hood and his face masked behind a white bandanna. The hood even covered his eyes. Zade could sense strength in this man. He was a curious individual. As the man approached Zade, he paused briefly and asked, "Zade Rad'hyth?"

Zade nodded, "Umm... Yes. And you are?"

"Not important." The man said followed by a brief chuckle.

"Alright." Zade said, very confused, "I guess I only need to know, friend or foe?"

"...Friend." The man said as he walked within arms reach of Zade. He stopped and asked him, "But lets not chit-chat. We can't have this battle continue on as it is. Now can we?"

"No." Zade agreed.

"Then I have an idea. If you are willing to bend your Jedi teachings just a bit."

Zade titled his head to the side, "Just... how much would I have to bend?"

"No more than you have already."

Zade greatly wondered who this stranger was. His sudden approach caught him off guard. Zade was hesitant but for some strange reason felt he should trust this man. He told the man, "Well then, what did you have in mind?"

________\-**V**-/________

In the Force there are those that can manipulate senses, feelings, and emotions of those in wide areas. Some Jedi could spread a sense of easiness and clarity around a large area. I even heard strong Jedi of old could even heal minor wounds on a single battlefield. On the other side of the coin, the Sith could cause uneasiness, fear, or even madness over an area. That was waaay out of my range of abilities but I wanted to try something a little different. A combination of the two sides by joining Zade's and my united Force energy. Zade had no idea what I was talking about as I tried to explain it earlier. That was fine. I didn't really need him to understand. In the Hyarsythe library I read of a Sith Lord that took a Jedi's wide area skill and manipulated it to use as his own Dark skill. Even though that particular Sith had never used a wide area skill before. Basically, the Sith Lord hijacked the Jedi's light side skill and made it all dark and evil. Thats kinda what I was planning on doing. Only toned down quite a bit.

So here I was. Standing shoulder to shoulder with a man I once, and still admire. Zade Rad'hyth. He may not have known who I was but I knew him from my padawan days. It was an honor. But I didn't have the time to stand around and shoot the breeze. It was time we tipped the scales in our favor. And to do that we'd have to try something new and highly unorthodox. Zade would provide the skills of the Jedi and I would provide the skills from what I learned from the Sith.

We stood at the threshold of the main entrance. Our eyes closed and each one of us with an arm stretched out towards the ongoing battle. Behind us were a battalion of Republic solders. Ready to fire at any Sith that came for the entrance while we were occupied. While Zade held his hand out he spoke to me through the side of his mouth, "You know I haven't really done this in years. Even then I wasn't very apt."

With my eyes still closed I smiled under my handkerchief and told him, "Thats alright. I don't need you to be."

He paused a moment, "If I don't like what you're doing I'll be forced to stop this. Understood?"

"Just trust me."

"I don't even know you." He said gruffly.

Yes, he did. But I wasn't going to tell him anything about myself. Instead I told him, "Do you want more innocent lives to be lost? Or do you want to end this?"

"Fine." Zade reluctantly agreed.

"But... you know I've actually never done this. So this will be quite interesting." I said with a chuckle.

"Great." He said sarcastically.

He clutched his outstretched hand into a fist. Then extending his index and middle fingers towards the battle. As he did I could feel a warming aura emit from him. The moment I felt his power emerge I could feel what to do. The Force lent me a guiding hand through an area of skill that I had no experience. With my eyes closed I could see only darkness. But when I concentrated on Zade's power it was if I could see the range and measure to his ability in my subconscious. Like a second sense of vision. It was like Zade released a calming, mist over the area. This ability, this second vision was like nothing I'd ever tried before but it seemed so easy. Like a hidden, inner nature.

When I was ready I joined my powers with his own. My Force energy concentrated and my mind focused. Using my extended hand as a conductor I released my own power. My second vision grew frenzied. I could see Zade's power as my own. As if I had absorbed it. Everything that Zade's power touched, I could sense. Every life and every emotion. I could sense those that were touched by the Dark Side. The Sith. They couldn't disguise themselves from me and appeared like red shadows in my second sight. They may as well have had a large floating 'Sith' sign above their heads. It was overwhelming yet exhilarating.

Now that I had achieved this wide area effect, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I could tell who were Sith and who weren't. But how could I use that to my advantage? The Force guided me again. I could sense what to do. Since I could sense the Sith's emotions I could perhaps use it against them. Just like I could hack into computers, I could hack into their angered, yet fragile minds. The weaker Sith, like the troopers, were fearful. They acted tough but on the inside they were afraid of combat. So I changed the calming aura that Zade was using and changed it. It was now a wide aura of intimidation directed only at those weak minded Sith. I could sense the fear in them grow. A sense of paranoia crept into their minds. They became hesitant and sloppy. Making them easy pickings for the Republic.

Zade could sense the change in the surrounding area. He broke his stance and turned towards me, "What are you doing?! This is wrong."

I ignored him. I didn't want to get distracted. I could already sense the energy being sapped form my being. This power was too much for me to handle for too long. But I couldn't stop here. I was driven to make up for my mistake of not destroying the Citadel when I had the chance. But I was afraid I wasn't being as much of a help as I wanted. I was only effecting the week minded Sith troopers but the stronger Sith were unaffected. And they were the larger threat.

Try as I might, I couldn't be as effective I would have liked. And this was draining my energy fast. I was breathing heavily and I could feel tight pains in my chest and back. This was doing more harm to me than it was the Sith. Zade grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me towards him. Also pulling me out of my trance. The wide area effect ended and my second vision vanished. He looked me in the eyes and scowled, "I've had enough of this."

I put my hand up and placed it on my head. I was lightheaded. I coughed before I told him, "Alright... alright. I'm finished. But the damage has been done. This should at least bend the battle in our favor."

Zade grit his teeth and closed is eyes briefly, "I know. I can sense a change in the battle. I don't like how you did it... but you helped."

I had to take a few steps away from him and lean my back against side of the entrance's archway. My legs were getting wobbly and I needed support to stand. Man, so much side effect to a seemingly ineffective ability. At least ineffective to the strong minded. This was a skill I don't think I'd want to use again. I don't even think I could without Zade's help. Zade walked over to me and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." I told him, "This just very new to me."

"You used the Dark Side. These can be the effects of doing so. You should stop now while you can." Zade preached.

I wasn't feeling up to arguing the points of Light, Dark or in between right now. Nor did I think it was the appropriate time. I nodded to him, "Thanks for the concern. But now is not the time."

Zade nodded back, "True. Despite the ways you did this, I thank you for your help."

"Zade!" A voice called out from our side.

Zade turned to his left and saw Master Sarval walking towards him. Zade greeted Sarval, "Master Sarval. I thought you were treating the wounded."

"I thought I sensed something... odd. I wanted to examine this disturbance I felt." He told Zade.

Zade nodded, "Yes. That was," He turned to face where I stood but I was already gone. Zade looked at an empty wall and said, "Well, there was somebody here."

"I see." Sarval asked him, "Who was it?"

Zade paused for a few seconds, "I'm not sure... but I have my theories."

Those two were left inside the Senate building while I high tailed it out of there. I had removed the Citadel from the battle. I'd slain quite a few powerful Sith or two. I destroyed a Sith academy. And I'd hopefully gotten into the heads of the Sith troopers. I wasn't satisfied with all that I had accomplished. I could have done more... Not to say I knew I hadn't done allot. But I was quite sure that I was finished in this battle. Hyarsythe seemed like it had happened so long ago, but it was only a couple of days ago. If even that. I'd lost track of time. My body was tired and my mind fatigued. I was confident enough that the Sith would fall. And they did.

After I left, the Republic destroyed the Sith. The Jedi defeated the Force sensitive Sith and the Republic made quick work of the weakened troopers. The Senate was, for the most part, untouched. This battle was over. But the damage had been done. Thousands of lives were lost from the Citadel alone. The Republic and Jedi Order was only beginning to rebuild their reputation as it was. Now they had to rebuild a city as well. I was confident enough that they could do it though. There was nothing more that I could do to help them. I would leave them to their work while my work was only beginning...

--- --- ---

Note: Again, sorry for the slightly long update. I would have liked to post a week or so ago but... this just hasn't been a very good month... or couple of months. I'm still getting over some sickness but **HOPEFULLY** I'll be able to write the 30th chapter soon. It will be the last chapter of this first story so it'll may be a long chapter. But after that I do plan to continue with a second volume shortly after I end this one. But I'll explain more about about the second volume at the end of chapter 30. So, thank you for reading and please leave a review if you'd like. It's always appreciated.


	29. Chapter 30: Reconstruction

Chapter 30: Reconstruction

--- --- ---

The Sith invasion was defeated. The battle lasted just over a day. At times it looked like the Sith had a chance to take or maybe even destroy Courscant. With their surprise attack, tower in the sky, and their deception on the ground they seemed like they should have had the upped hand throughout the entire battle. But they were foiled and conquered. Now it was time for the clean up. And what a clean up it was looking to be.

Outside the Senate Building the scene was chaotic. Though, far less chaotic than the battle that took place only a couple hours ago. Companies of Republic soldiers were down on their knees with their hands on their heads. Their blasters and any other weapons they had on them thrown aside. They were surrendering themselves while Republic Generals went from company to company, confirming their identities. If someone's identity came into question they'd be taken into custody for further investigation to confirm they weren't Sith.

While this investigation was going on. The confirmed Republic soldiers and some of the Jedi were helping the wounded. A fleet of transport ships had landed on the outskirts of the Senate area. The soldiers and Jedi would gently carry anyone in Jedi robe or Republic uniform to the transports where they'd be rushed to the nearest medical facility. They didn't bother to check the identities of the wounded soldiers. If they were Sith they'd be treated and taken into custody later. They didn't want to waste time checking an identity while the patient was suffering in pain.

Zade stood inside the great hall of the Senate building alongside a Republic General and Jedi Masters Sarval and Takie who had both survived the battle. They stood in front of a large mass of Senators that have filed out of their protective bunker. Most of them were calm and understanding of the situation but there was a vocal minority that had forced their way to the front of the pack and began shouting for explanations. _How could this happen? Whose responsible for letting the Sith get this far? Why weren't the Jedi able to prevent this?_ Questions, questions, questions. Zade sighed loudly, "I need a vacation..."

One Senator stepped forward and shouted to them, "Why aren't you answering us? You'll answer to us when we talk to you!"

Another Senator from the back shouted to the vocal senators, "Reserve yourself! There are more pressing matters right now!"

The quibbles of Democracy. What a great cause to fight and die for. Zade raised his hands towards the crowd, "Now, now. We've all been through allot-"

"Why weren't the Jedi able to stop this?" A voice called out.

Zade didn't bother answering. He didn't have to though. From behind the group of Jedi Masters and the Republic general, three figures walked forward. One of them walked between Zade and Sarval. Zade looked and saw it was Rasch Mungand. The likely candidate to be the new Chancellor. He was up and about after being kidnapped and knocked unconscious. The other two figures were Jedi Wennsis and Koppler. Wennsis with a sniper riffle hanging over her shoulder. Koppler... reeking of something quite awful.

The crowed went silent when they saw Rasch. He stood before the mass Senate in silence. Slightly brooding as his eyes darted from face to face. The Senators became silent as they waited to hear from Rasch. But Rasch ignored them for the moment and turned to the Jedi and the Republic General and told them, "You don't have to worry about this issue. This is my duty." He then smiled briefly, "Thank you for everything you've done."

Zade gave Rasch a respectful nod of the head before turning and walking away. As they, as a group, walked away they could hear Rasch begin a speech aimed to appease the restless crowd. Zade did not envy Rasch.... but he was glad to see him right back to his old self. He didn't let a kidnapping effect him. His will and mind was to strong for that.

As they walked for the exit, Sarval asked Wennsis, "And may I ask why you are carrying a Sith model riffle?"

She removed the riffle from her shoulder and looked at it as if she had completely forgotten she was even carrying it, "Ohh... right. Well-"

Koppler pointed to Wennsis, "This one is a scary shot. I have to wonder where a Jedi like you learned to shoot a riffle like that? And so ruthless."

She sneered back at him, "So you want to trade stories? Why don't you tell everyone why you have the stench of rotten Gorg meat?"

Zade didn't really care about this conversation. With everything in the Senate taken care of there was only thing he cared about. He asked Koppler and Wennsis, "Did either of you see Annoli?"

Wennsis shook her head, "No. I'm afraid not. Have you heard nothing from her?"

"No." Zade said with great concern in his voice.

"S-She may still be down in the lower levels." Koppler suggested.

The Republic General that had joined them had an idea. He told Zade, "Our communications have been restored. I'll send out an urgent call for her. Can you describe her?"

"She is teenage Pylianan. Pale skin, dark greenish-blue hair." Zade described.

The general reached into his belt and removed a comlink. He brought it up to his mouth and called, "Urgent broadcast, Urgent broadcast. I'm looking a Pylianan padawan. Teenage girl. Pale skin and green-blue hair. Any known locations?"

There was a long pause before a female voice came over the other end of the comlink, "Med-stand 3, here. Med-stand 3. We have a patient here matching that description."

Zade stepped forward, "Med-stand? Is she alright?"

The General relayed, "Med-stand 3, what is the status of the patient?"

"Stable but injured." The voice told them, "She was brought in hours ago in critical condition but we were able to treat her. She should be fine. Last I checked she was still sleeping."

Zade took a moment to gather himself. Sarval placed a hand on Zade's shoulder and told him, "Go on."

"Tell her I said, 'Hi'." Wennsis told Zade.

"Yeah. And tell her she's the toughest padawan I've ever seen since... well me." Koppler added.

Zade nodded, "Of course."

The General grabbed the nearest pilot and told her to take Zade to the 'Med-Stand 3'. The codename to the store that had been converted into a medical station. The pilot and Zade rushed to a transport where they'd take off. Left behind, Koppler sighed, "So now I suppose we're left to clean this place up?"

"Show some respect!" Wennsis scolded, "Soldiers, innocents, and Jedi of our own alliance died today. Don't speak as if this is some hassle to _you_."

Koppler lowered his gaze, "I didn't mean it like that."

She sighed loudly, "Just, never mind."

Sienn and Yaulba came walking over to them. Sienn bowed to them, "Master Jedi. I'm sorry for that. The senators putting blame on you for this is unfair and ridiculous."

"They aren't wrong." Sarval told her, "If it wasn't for the Jedi Council the Sith wouldn't have exploited us at our time of turmoil."

Koppler waved his hands out in front of him, "Blah! The Council is in the past. I'm sick and tired of talking about them."

"In his own... _expressive_ way, Koppler is right." Wennsis said, "I think we should spend less time worrying about the ex-Council and more time rebuilding the Jedi Order. Now more than ever the Republic is going to look to us for aid and guidance. I say we create a new Jedi Council right away."

Sienn cleared her throat, "Ahem, I can't really speak for anybody besides myself... but I'm sure you'll have most of the Senate's support in this."

"Thank you." Sarval told her, "But we need to make this decision without any outside input. Senate or otherwise."

She nodded, "Of course. I only wish to say that you'll have support, in spirit."

Wennsis turned to Sarval and asked him, "Well then, Master Sarval-Styr... I don't think any Jedi in the Order would object in_ my _saying that you should be the Grand Master of the Jedi Order."

Takie chirped her agreements in Wennsis' suggestion. Koppler nodded, "I may be just a Jedi Knight but I think it's pretty obvious. Besides Zade, you're the only one left alive that ever served on the Jedi Council. And Zade has a padawan so he can't be considered."

Sarval paused a moment before he finally agreed, "Very well. I'll accept this responsibility and promise that I'll do everything in my power and wisdom to make up for the Jedi Council's past offenses."

________\-**V**-/________

Zade met with a short standing, long necked, gray skinned, Gossam female as he entered into the department store turned medical base. She was a doctor here. She wore a white coat with bloodstains. Some blood wasn't even the same color. No doubt from the patients around the store.

There were makeshift cots made from random things in the store for the lesser injured to rest on. The heavily wounded were being kept elsewhere in the store. Probably closer to the doctors in case they need immediate medical assistance.

Zade crossed his arms over his chest and respectfully nodded to the doctor, "Thank you for seeing me personally. I'm so sorry from taking you away from your patients. I'm sure you have so much to take care of."

She aggressively shook her head and spoke in a slightly croaking voice, "Nonsense! I should be thanking you. Your visit has given me a chance for an actual break. I haven't had a break in nearly 12 non-stop hours. Well thats enough of that. Your padawan."

"Yes. Is she safe?"

"Yes, yes!" She motioned for Zade to follow her and they began walking down a path set between rows of cots. As they walked she explained, "I personally treated your padawan. She has been sleeping this whole time but she will be fine. Though, her wounds were like nothing I've ever seen before. The woman that brought her in explained that they were inflected by a Sith general."

"Woman? Who brought her in?" Zade asked.

"I never got her name. She brought your padawan in, explained what happened, and then left. When she first came in I thought the Sith were breaking into the store. She looked like one of them. But she was far too kind to be a Sith. She made sure the padawan was in good hands."

"I see." Zade rubbed his chin. He figured the Sith General in mention was Cavrick Brycers, "This sith General, what did he do to her?"

"The woman said that the Sith _zapped _her or something. Her wounds did slightly resemble electric shock, but it was different from any case I've seen. But I've never dealt in Sith sorcery before. At least nothing near this scale. She also had many bruises and a shoulder that was once dislocated but relocated before she was brought here. Her wounds will heal but they'll take time. And it may be painful for a few weeks. Or maybe just days with you Jedi-type."

They rounded a corner and she led Zade down a store aisle of stuffed creature plushies. She told Zade, "We've been keeping the unaccompanied adolescents in the toy section for peace of mind."

They reached the end of the aisle and they entered into an area with bright, multicolored carpeting to appeal to children. More of the makeshift cots were placed around the carpeted floor. Most of the patients here were just children. None of them near Annoli's age. Many droids were scurrying through the cots, making sure they were alright. Some were even handing out toys for the children to play with. Zade couldn't help but snicker. Annoli's going to hate being placed in the children's section when she wakes up.

The doctor took him across the area where Zade saw Annoli gently resting on a bed with her eyes closed and arms resting at her side. The doctor motioned towards Annoli, "I'll leave you here. Stay as long as you wish."

"Thank you." Zade bowed to her as she walked away and attended to some medical droids that had issues for her to take care of.

Zade grabbed a pink, plastic, stool with a happy blue face painted on the top of it. He set it beside Annoli's bed and sat down. He sat down on the small stool and found it incredibly uncomfortable. A small Ithorian child with a bandage wrapped over her back and left shoulder looked at Zade. Seeing this battle worn Jedi sitting on a toy stool made her laugh, loudly. Zade smiled at the child. Well at least his discomfort was amusing to someone.

He sat and waited for maybe a half an hour. As he waited he would watch the children play around. Mostly to the protest of the stuck up medical droids. A group of four boys had gotten out of their beds and began running around. A doctor ran after them, shouting for the kids to get back into their beds and rest.

He enjoyed the rest from battle and politics as he waited for Annoli to wake. He hadn't had a chance to rest in so long. He had forgotten what it felt like to be sitting. Zade then saw Annoli shift in her bed. He turned and saw her as she opened her eyes. She slowly looked around the room and groaned, "Ugh... What am I doing here?"

"Sorry for the scenery. It wasn't my choosing." Zade told her with a smile.

She tried to sit up but felt a large amount of pain so she laid back down. She turned to Zade and asked him, "Where is that woman?"

"What woman?"

"The woman with the violet eyes." Annoli said weekly.

"I don't know."

"Oh." Annoli took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before she continued, "She killed that Sith and saved me."

"Good thing. Brycrs isn't known for leaving survivors."

"I noticed." She forced a small smile, "So I take that of you are here, that means we won?"

"Well, we fended off the Sith. I wouldn't say we won. The moment they took out the planetary defenses we were put into a no win situation." Zade told her.

She rolled her eyes, "Geez, you really are the pessimistic type, aren't you? Just take it as a win and stop over analyzing it."

Zade laughed, "Ha ha! I guess I should."

"You don't have to stay here, Master."

"Of course I don't." He said with another chuckle, "But I may as well...:

She paused before she asked a question that was on her mind for awhile now, "I know I was forced upon you by the old Council-"

Zade raised his hand to her, "Enough, Annoli."

She continued, "-But if you want to drop me as a padawan and start with the new Council I'd understand."

He shook his head, "Don't say such things. I thought I already told you that you are not a burden on me. If anything, I've enjoyed the time spent as your Master more than any other time with the Order."

She grinned and laughed which caused her sides to hurt, "Heh, oww, don't get all sappy on me now."

"Of course not." He nodded to her, "I'm just saying that I'm very proud of you and all you've done."

"...Thanks..." She said under her breath.

"No problem."

"So, now what?"

"Now, you rest." He told her, "Enjoy your time off because as soon as you're healthy its right back to work. More training and giving more support to the Jedi Order and Republic as they rebuild their system and reputation. Got it? "

"Yeah." she agreed, "Just one request?"

"Of course."

She smiled as she looked at him, "Can you please get me moved to somewhere without all these drooly, snot-dripping, noisy little children?"

He smiled back and nodded to her, "Of course."

________\-**V**-/________

Darth Carnivis knelt down before a blood red shroud that hung from the ceiling. The shroud hid his Master from sight. Carnivis was the only one allowed to gaze his eyes upon Darth Rajjor. The only time his Master would hide his appearance from him was when Rajjor was displeased with Carnivis. He may not have been able to see his Master, but he could feel his Master's presence. A tremble in the Force. Rajjor was furious but would never show it. Carnivis spoke as he knelt, "M-Master... I come before you abashed and disgraced. My failure has cost the Sith their moment of victory."

"..." There was no response.

He continued, "But I know that the Sith won't be beaten by this. We are too strong and too proud to-"

He stopped talking as he began feeling exceedingly uneasy. Rajjor spoke to Carnivis with his demented falsetto of a voice, "Carnivis... You speak as if we suffered no losses. As if we can just pick up where we left off. We lost many of our most strong and privileged of legion today."

"I-I..." He had to control himself as he spoke, "I had to retreat. The Risa'griez Citadel was hacked into and every system was failing."

"The damages done to the Citadel will take a great length of time to repair due to the sudden failures of hundreds of systems. Risa'griez is wounded." Rajjor pointed out.

"Yes. I understand. And I take full responsibility for that. But if I hadn't of retreated the _entire _Citadel would have been lost. Is that not more important?"

Rajjor didn't answer his question, "And our ranks will need to be filled again before we can ever act against the Republic. We must increase the production from our academies. This will also take time."

"Yes, Master." Carnivis pounded his fist in anger, "I am sorry. If it wasn't for that damn ship..."

"_Yes_." Rajjor said coyly, "While Risa'griez soothes her wounds, you shall scout out the academies I send you too."

"Yes, Master."

"You are fortunate, Carnivis. If Hyarsythe hadn't have been destroyed I may have punished you by reassigning you to headmaster of that cursed station."

"...Yes, Master."

Carnivis sensed Rajjor knew more about this entire situation than he was telling him. Perhaps Rajjor even knew who had hackled into the Citadel. But Carnivis was in no position to ask questions from his Master. He could only kneel and bow in submission. A feeling he wasn't fond of but had to accept. There was still much he needed to learn from Rajjor's training before he disposed of Darth Rajjin and took control of the Sith. The thought of doing so made his mouth water. Rajjin could sense his apprentice's intention too. Carnivis' craving intention to kill him and become the new Dark Master of the Sith. Thus, the true psychology of the Sith's Master-Apprentice relationship.

________\-**V**-/________

It was a full day after the invasion of Coruscant ended. The 'Hutt-Slug' touched down on a landing platform of a space station. A space station a half day's trip from Corusacnt. When we arrived, Lwyn joyously leapt from the cockpit and landed on the solid ground bellow. She stretched her arms out, "Ugh! I am not one for space travel."

I hoped down after her and smiled, "You get woozy popping someone's shoulder back into position and you can't even take a half day's flight in a cramped little ship? Why am I attracted to you again?"

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. Because you were stuck undersea with a bunch of ugly, angry people and I was the most attractive?"

I teasingly nodded, "Ah. Thats why... by default."

"And I'm attracted to you because I need someone to drive me around and do my bidding." She said with a quirky smile.

I ignored her little comeback and took a look around. We were supposed to meet with Vayne and the others that escaped from the Zellblack here. There were too many ships landed on the port to spot any of their ships. Lwyn looked around too, "See them?"

"No. They are probably inside the station." I told her.

So we payed the toll for landing our ship and headed inside the station. The inside was like a large shopping mall. The central room was a large gathering area/cafeteria/concourse. From the concourse, many halls of shops, utilities, and other accommodations branched out. Handing from the dome ceiling of the concourse were large screens and speakers. All of them showing the same news report of a human female standing in front of a camera outside the Senate area as she explained what she was seeing. Her voice echoed throughout the concourse, "-_still have no confirmation if the Sith managed to enter into the building or not. Or if any of the Senators inside were harmed_."

About 95% of the people inside had their eyes trained up towards the screen. Lwyn and I didn't pay much attention to the news. We already knew more than anybody else on this station. Or the whole universe for that matter. But we did appreciate the environment. We saw families, husbands and wives, random aliens, just normal people living normal, albeit worried at the moment, lives. For the most part, they weren't outlaws, they weren't smugglers, they weren't Sith, they weren't hostiles. There would be no plotting. No fighting. Me growing up as a Jedi/freedom fighter and Lwyn growing up on J'Rekk, this was something rare for the both of us. It was like a vacation.

We walked around the perimeter of the cafeteria, looking for a familiar face. We weren't there long before we heard a voice call out towards us, "VoidCutter!"

One of Lwyn's many nicknames. We turned and saw HotShot still wearing her flight suit. She had a grin on her face as she walked over to us. The moment she came into range she gave us both a sharp jab in the chest, "It sure took you long enough to get here. We were already to call you dead and leave this place when we got your call to meet here."

I glared whimsically at her, "I'm glad to see you're so distressed over the thought of our deaths. You callous Hssiss."

"A Hiss-_what_?" She asked.

"Never mind."

"So where is everyone else?" Lwyn asked her.

She waved us over, "C'mon, I'll show you."

She led us past the concourse area and to a side hall of restaurants. The scents of dozens of different types of food wafted in the air. She took us to a restaurant near the back of the hall. It looked like they specialized in greasy, Corellian food. I couldn't help but notice a "closed" sign hanging from the door but HotShot led us into the restaurant anyways. When we entered we noticed that this place was pretty high-end. Dim lighting, rose colored carpeting, fancy tablecloths, and pure silver utensils. The dining area was pretty small and empty of customers expect for one larger, round table in the center of the room. Thats where we saw Vayne, Illune, Sbaki, and Wodigeo sitting at a table. Eating and relaxing.

As soon as Vayne saw us he stood up from his chair with a wide smile on his face and his arms open for a hug. Lwyn walked over and gave him a big enough hug to lift him off the ground. After a moment she set him back down and released him. Then Vayne opened his arms to me, "C'mon, buddy."

I sighed and stared at him coldly, "All right. Just this once. But never again."

"Deal."

I gave 'Frogface' a quick hug before I sat down at a chair next to Vayne. Lwyn sat down next to me and HotShot between her and Sbaki. Illune greeted me with a respectful nod of the head, "So I hear from the news that whatever you did, you must have done successfully. I assume the Zellblack is taken care of?"

"Yes. The Sith made it a personal goal to evaporate every last piece of Zellblack shrapnel." I told him.

"Good, good." He said with a satisfied smile. Then stretched his arms out around the restaurant, "Well enjoy a warm meal for a change. We rented the place out for the night."

Sbaki wasn't paying much attention to her food or her company. She was more fixated playing with a small gadget in her hands that resembled a holo-vid player. Wodigeo was the exact opposite. He had two plates of meaty entrées in front of him. With a mouth full of food he told me, "Laan, my man. You have to try the spiceloaf."

Hotshot shouted back to the kitchen of the restaurant, "Yo! We got two more!"

Immediately after she called, an old man in an apron rushed out with two menus in hand. I ordered the highly recommended spiceloaf and Lwyn ordered hotcakes. As the man rushed to the back to cook up our order, Illune asked me, "So Laan tell me, how many Sith did you kill on Coruscant?"

HotShot pounded her fist on the table top, "Yeah! You no good-rotten leach! Why didn't you tell us you were going to Coruscant? You know I would have loved to show those slimeballs who's boss!"

"Thats exactly why." I said flatly.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" She argued.

"Just leave it alone."

"No."

"Fine," I said coldly, "You'd have gotten in the way."

She stared harshly at me and grit her teeth in anger. I'm sure she was cursing me out in her mind, but remained silent on the outside. For her, silence was usually worse than her verbally bashing me. I was worried Vayne would be upset too. I'd trusted him throughout Hyarsythe and to not trust him on Coruscant seemed like a low blow. I turned to him and told him, "I'm sorry Vayne. I know it isn't fair to you..." I turned to HotShot for a moment, "... or you."

She ignored me. Vayne surprisingly understood. He looked to Lwyn and I, "Don't worry about it. I know that I'm nowhere in league with you two." He paused for a moment "...W-Which is why... I think I know what I'm going to do now that I'm out of Hyarsythe."

"Oh?" I said with interest.

He grimaced nervously, "Uh-Yeah. I know the three of us had these plans on what we could do after Hyarsythe but..."

"Don't worry about us, Vayne." Lwyn encouragingly told him.

He nodded with more animation in his actions, "I want to enlist in a Republic flight academy."

I smiled, "I think you'd do great"

"Yeah." He seemed excited and acted like a massive weight was lift off his shoulders, "So I think that I can use these Force abilities that I learned, as a pilot. With more training I think I could do pretty well."

"No doubt." Lwyn told him.

Moments later the old man came out with our food. That was fast. Lwyn and I enjoyed a nice warm meal as we told everyone about what happened on Coruscant. Even Sbaki put her toy down and tuned into the conversation. I neglected to tell them about the part where I blew away two Sith in an elevator with a blast of lightening. I had already told Lwyn what happened at the Senate so none of this was new to her. When I finished I was confident that I had impressed them. Except for HotShot. She still looked pissed off. Wodigeo slapped his knee, "Man, I wish I had your guys super powers."

"Pssh!" HotShot scoffed, "Force powers are just cheating in my book. It takes away from us 'normals' that have to work for our strength."

Man, she was starting to get on my nerves. She's always been stubborn and opinionated but shes never been a brat. I was ready to bark something at her when Sbaki snickered, "Don't worry about her. Ssshe wasss jusst worried."

I could see HotShot grit her teeth in annoyance. I knew she wasn't happy when I left the group years ago. Maybe when I didn't include her in the fight on Coruscant she thought that I'd left the group again. Or that I left her again. Or both. Illune saw the conflict in his daughter and decided to change the subject, "Hey! I know what. Sbaki did you get it ready yet?"

Sbaki nodded and handed Illune the gadget she was playing with earlier. He called for the old man of the restaurant to darken the lights. He did so and the room grew darker. Illune pushed some plates of food out of the way as he placed the device in the center of the round table. He told us, "I got you, Laan, Lwyn, and Vayne a present. Before we left Apsus we dropped a little camera probe behind to record this..."

He hit a button on the device and a dark blue and white holo-video popped into the air. The video was a close up of the Head of Hyarsythe. The angled tower that protruded from the Apsus ocean. Sbaki snickered again, "Watccch this part!"

Without warning the Head shifted suddenly. The massive base started to twist around in the seas before the supports snapped and the Head began to sink. It only took four seconds for the entire structure of the Head to be lost under the seas forever. It was awesome. Vayne and I both started clapping our hands before I reached over and gently slapped him in the side of the head, "Yeah, Vayne! Was eight hours inside a box inisde train worth that?"

"Definitely." Was his proud answer.

Lwyn cheered loudly as the recording ended, "Woo! I only wish Vedalt'e was still alive to see that one!"

When the lights returned Vayne, Lwyn, and I all stood up and began giving each other high fives. It was a relief knowing that the bomb we used wasn't a dud. Hyarsythe was destroyed. Many bad Sith were swept away. And I hoped that the Swyren kept in Lokindr's aquarium were able to escape. Illune was sitting back in his chair with a wide smile on his face, "Look at you, Laan. You've done more against the Sith in a week than I've managed to do to them in a single year."

I sat back down with a grin on my face that I couldn't erase no matter how hard I tried. I told him, "Yeah, well I've learned most of my Sith-destroying skills from you guys."

Lwyn and Vayne both sat back down. Also with grins on their faces. Wodigeo patted Illune on the shoulder and told him, "Ah, these are the moments I'll miss."

"Miss?" Lwyn asked.

Illune nodded, "Yeah. Wodigeo and I are retiring from Sith hunting. The end of the Zellblack was the end of our organization. We're too old to start over."

"Oh." I said softly, "I see. Well you guys have earned a retirement."

Wodigeo folded his arms behind his head and rested back into his chair, "I think the planet Rion is calling me. Tropic weather and beautiful people."

"How about you Illune? Where you headed" Lwyn asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Undecided. I have the rest of my life to decide. Maybe I'll just travel. This time for recreation and not reconnaissance."

I turned to HotShot and asked her, "And you?"

She loosened up a bit as she nodded towards Sbaki, "We're not retired. We're going to keep doing what we do best."

"We only need a ssship." Sbaki said, "And then a bigger crew."

"And you two?" HotShot asked Lwyn and I.

I turned to Lwyn and shrugged my shoulders, "Umm.... well. You said you wanted a vacation. Right?"

She thought about it for a second. Finlay she smirked at me, "Meh, there is always time for a vacation later. We just got the Sith on the run. What type of freedom fighters would we be if we settled for that? I think we'd better see this thing through. Don't you?"

I smirked back at her as I reached into the robes under my coat. I removed my datapad and held it in my hand. I'm sure the Sith knew the Citadel had been hacked into. They would change their codes and systems making the information I had on the the Citadel worthless. However, this datapad once belonged to General De'Kyte and I knew it had plenty of vital information that the Sith didn't know we had. Information about more bases and more areas of interest to explore. I set the datapad on the tabletop. I saw a grin on Sbaki and even HotShot's face as I told Lwyn, "Absolutely."

Lwyn reached into her coat and removed my wolf shaped necklace that I gave her earlier and placed it on the table next to the datapad and told me, "Good."

I turned back to the others and told everyone at the table, "Look. Whether you're retiring, going to an academy, or elsewhere, all of us at this table have had a major role in this legacy. A legacy that _will_ see the end of the Sith. We're not finished yet. We've only began."

--- --- --

**Epilogue**

--- --- ---

Coruscant, two weeks after the Sith invasion. The planet is still struggling to rebuild but Chancellor Rasch Mungand has made great progress in leaded a full scale reconstruction of the area damaged by the Sith. While people are still shocked and hurt by the attack, their lives go on. Many businesses have been struggling with business but one industry was now stronger than ever. Pubs.

Inside one pub on the middle levels of Coruscant, a thin and short girl with dirty blond hair tied back into three tails stood behind a bar counter. Taking orders. She rested her elbows on the counter as a man clad in a dark blue robe and a black hood over his head, approached the counter. The hood covered his face. The girl asked the man, "Welcome. What can I get for you?"

The man laughed and leaned forward. As he did the girl saw something catch her eye. A silver medallion of a Lanoul Wolf with sun rays forming around it's head, dangled down from around the man's neck. He told her, "Hey, _Wire_."

Her jaw dropped as she looked up at him. She reached over and yanked the hood from his head and saw a familiar face smirking back at her, "Ceddes?"

"_Laan_." He corrected her.

She reached over and smacked him in the shoulder. Hard. She laughed, "Whatever! I can't believe you're alive!"

He rubbed the spot where she hit him, "Oww! Yeah! Lets keep it that way."

"Knock it off. I know you're tough enough. Unless you've gotten soft?"

"No way."

"Good." She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, "Man... I just can't believe it!"

He backed away from the counter and looked around the pub. It wasn't a bad place. For a pub. It was clean at least. He asked her, "So when I sent you to the Jedi for help... they sent to you to be a bartender?"

She shook her head, "No, no. Nothing like that. They wanted me to clean clothes. But this paid better."

"I see. And how's Riveth doing?"

"My brother is... well hes a normal boy. You know how that is."

"Normal? Can't say as I do."

"Oh... Right."

"But he's healthy?"

"Yeah."

"Good." He told her, "And you?"

She smiled and motioned to the pub around her, "I'm doing great. The tips alone are enough to support my brother and I. We get a pretty unique clientèle around here. Wealthy, but dirty. If you get what I'm saying."

He smiled and nodded, "Oh I get it..." He winced, "In fact... thats kind of why I'm here."

She acted hurt, "You're not here to see me?"

"Well yes. And no." He leaned in closer to which she also leaned in closer. He half-whispered to her, "You know lots important people here. Don't you? You got contacts?"

With a cocksure smile and raise of her left eyebrow, "Whatcha need?"

He smiled and told her, "A ship. A big one..."

--- --- ---

**End of Volume 1**

--- --- --

Authors notes:

So there it is. The final chapter of my first ever completed story. It's been like 2 years coming from the first time I wrote chapter 1. There was a long period where I hadn't updated a chapter. And other times I wasn't very regular with my updates. This was also like 10 more chapters than I ever expected to write. I never planned on 30 chapters but it just kinda happened to land on that number. Maybe the story got kind of drawn out towards the end. I originally expected to end the story at the fall of Hyarsythe. But I kept it going. And the ending wasn't quite as climatic as I would have liked. But I think it worked well enough. Anyways...

I thank all of those that stuck with this story. I especially wish to thank those that left the encouraging reviews. I don't know if I would have bothered to complete the story without them.

Anyways, I think I've learned allot from this story. I do in fact intend to do a second volume. I'll post it as a separate story and not add any more chapters to this one. So if you'd like you can add me as a favorite author so you can keep track of when I start the second volume if you wish to read it. I learned from some of my mistakes and plan to take a few things into volume two. Things I can promise, or at least try to promise, for volume two...

One central storyline. Instead of a Laan storyline and a Zade/Annoli storyline I'll be sticking to one main storyline with the, maybe, occasional story break to get an alternate perspective. The reason I did two storylines in the first place was because when I do one story at a time I seem to get writers block easily or tend to force out bad storylines. I need a break in storylines to keep them fresher... if that makes sense. But now that I have my "Shadow Net" story over on I have two separate stories to keep both of them fresh.

Regular updates. As I've said before in my notes I try to update, at most, every two weeks. I try but I'm often unable to make that mark. So I'm going to try as hard as I can to keep it to two weeks at most per update. And I won't go a month or two without updating like I did at one point with this story. At least not without good reason. You never know what can happen in life that may take priority over writing. Or an injury or something. But something ever happens whee I can't update I'll at least post an update as to why I can't update in my author's page.

Overall the same tone. I already have a storyline planned out for the second volume and while I think it'll be a different kind of story, I think it'll still have the same feel of this story.... if umm... that makes any sense what-so-ever.

I plan to start volume 2 soon. I'm going to take a small break from this Star Wars story. Not a very long one. Maybe only a week more than the usual updates. Maybe a little logner. I'm very eager to get volume 2 going.

A title. This story was just called Outcast and Legacy, Named after the first and second chapters because I only planned on posting the first two chapters here and continue the rest of the storyline elsewhere. **Bad idea. **I don't have a title in mind yet, maybe I'll spend that extra week to think of one. : p

Less typos. I'm sure I made many typos in this story, and any thing I write... ever. Like mixing up the words "quite" and "quiet" or "week" for "weak" or "meat" for "meet". Stuff like that... I'll try not to do as much of that but I can't promise anything because... well sometimes I just suck at typos. Really, really suck at typos. Even after I proof read a story I still have typos. Hopefully my typos are minor enough that you guys can still understand what I'm typing... Sorry.

Yeah, thats it. Thanks again for reading and please leave a final review if you'd like... So, I hope to see you guys on volume 2. And if you'll indulge another self-promotion, check out my "Shadow Net" story on if you'd like. My pen name on fictionpress is, "darthbraun". Well... Bye all.


End file.
